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i  Library^  } 


NEW  YORK  : 
D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY, 

34  6    6c    348    BROADWAY. 

1856. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1956, 

By  D.  APPLETON  &  CO. 

in  the  Clerk's  office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  for  the 

Sontbern  District  of  New  York. 


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7 


•'Am  I  wrong  in  believing  that  the  tendencies  of  the  age 
are  in  favor  of  decreasing  rather  than  increasing  the 
amount  of  time  bestowed  upon  classical  scholarship  ? 

"  Unless  I  be  so,  the  necessity  of  a  limitation  is  appa- 
rent." Dk.  R.  G.  Latham, 


"  The  interchange  of  ideas  with  the  contemporaneoua 
world,  is  of  as  much  importance  as  the  preservation  of  the 
ideas  of  the  past;  and  the  tongues  which  men  now  speak 
are  those  which  men  should  learn  to  understand."' 

8iR  Robert  Kane, 


Never  were  the  means  of  intellectual  communication  more  need- 
ed, than  at  the  present  day.  Such  is  the  spirit  of  the  age,  that  the 
members  of  different  communities  fraternize  under  the  influence  of 
similar  institutions,  similar  pursuits,  and  similar  tastes.  National- 
ities merge  into  one  great  family :  they  are  no  longer  separated  by 
seas  and  mountains ;  steam  navigation,  railroads,  and  the  electric 
telegraph  bring  into  contact  the  most  distant  countries.  The  cheap- 
ness of  travelling,  the  reduction  of  postage,  and  the  free  circulation 
of  the  public  press,  which  will  soon  be  extended  to  all  civilized  na- 
tions, will,  not  less  than  the  rapidity  of  conveyance,  bring  them  into 
closer  intimacy  with  each  other,  and  thus  aid  in  divesting  them  of 
national  antipathies  and  prejudices.  The  old  barriers  which  igno- 
rance, monopoly,  and  a  want  of  international  intercourse  had  raised 
between  them,  are  now,  in  .spite  of  the  apparent  hostility  of  political 
parties  and  narrow-minded  patriots,  crumbling  in  every  direction  be- 
fore the  irresistible  power  of  ^a  generous  and  enlightened  philanthropy. 
Well  conducted  periodicals  spread  knowledge  in  the  homes  of  the 
humblest ;  .and  scientific  associations  call  successively  into  the  great 
seats  of  industry  the  intellectual  representatives  of  the  civilized 
world.     Isolated  labor  is  every  where,  and  for  every  purpose,  giving 


way  to  the  spirit  of  association :  instead  of  wrapping  their  discove- 
ries in  secrecy,  men  of  all  countries  diffuse  them  as  means  of  uni- 
versal advancement.  The  competition  of  human  industry  which 
the  great  capitals  of  the  world  have  witnessed  of  late  in  their  co- 
lossal exhibitions,  marks  a  new  era  of  international  communion ;  by 
creating  among  the  nations  of  the  earth  a  generous  emulation  in 
art  and  practical  science,  it  has  imparted  a  powerful  energy  to 
civilization,  and  cemented  the  great  pact  of  universal  fraternity  and 
mutual  good  will.  War  itself,  though  horrible  as  ever,  has  changed 
\ts  nature  under  this  influence,  and  together  with  devastation,  now 
carries  civilization  in  its  train.  Men,  until  now  bitter  foes,  are  no 
longer  but  accidentally  so,  and  wherever  they  meet  on  friendly 
ground,  they  vie  with  each  other  in  advancing  the  great  interests 
which  concern  mankind.  This  happy  tendency  towards  close  union 
among  nations,  is  farther  shown  by  the  growing  taste  which  they 
evince  for  the  cultivation  of  each  other's  language,  and  which, 
together  with  necessity,  has  made  their  study  an  essential  part  of 
modern  national  education. 

In  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries,  when  Europe  had  just 
emerged  from  barbarism,  and  the  arts  and  sciences  were  at  their 
lowest  ebb,  the  modern  languages  containing  nothing  worth  read- 
ing, the  people  could  find  the  information  they  required  only  in  the 
languages  of  Greece  and  Rome.  These  were,  indeed,  efficient  in- 
\  struments  of  civilization ;  they  furnished  the  elements  of  liberal  educa- 
tion, and  imparted  intellectual  life  to  the  modern  world.  All 
efforts  were  consequently  directed  towards  them ;  and  as  Europe, 
with  perhaps  the  exception  of  Italy,  had  then  but  very  imperfect 
dialects,  those  languages  served  to  record  the  notions  and  opinions 
of  the  time,  and  became  the  vehicles  of  communication  between  the 
learned.  Latin,  especially,  was  to  them  really  a  living  language ; 
but  it  has,  as  well  as  Greek,  lost  its  importance  in  proportion  as 
modern  languages  have  been  perfected  and  stored  with  knowledge 
in  every  department.  The  ancient  tongues  having  thus  become 
very  limited  in  their  use,  and  being  studied  no  longer  for  their  own 
j  sake,  but  only  as  a  means,  it  has  been  asked  whether  modern  langua- 
*  ges  cannot  supply  their  place  entirely,  and  be  studied  both  as  an  end 
and  as  a  means  ? — which  suggestion,  as  may  be  well  imagined,  has 
drawn  forth  bursts  of  indignation  from  those  trained  exclusively  in 
the  old  scholastic  course,  and  above  all,  from  those  who,  deficient  in 
both  ancient  and  modern  languages,  had  been  accustomed  to  look: 
upon  "  classical "  knowledge  as  the  badge  of  "  a  gentleman." 

We  may  as  well  at  once  declare,  that  we  have  no  sympathy 
with  those  who  seem  to  fancy  that  they  have  sneered  off  the  whole 
controversy  by  \\\e  contemptuous  phrase,  "dead   languages,"  and 


whose  views  niav  be  best  expressed  in  the  words  of  the  parson's  son, 
in  Crabbers  "  Tales  of  the  Hall : " 

*♦  What  can  men  worse  for  mortal  brain  contrive, 
Than  thus  a  hard  dead  language  to  revive  ? 
Heavens !  if  a  language  once  be  fairly  dead, 
Let  it  be  buried,  not  preserved  and  read, 
The  bane  of  every  boy  to  decent  station  bred  ; 
If  any  good  these  crabbed  books  contain. 
Translate  them  well,  and  let  them  then  remain ; 
To  one  huge  vault  convey  the  useless  store. 
Then  lose  the  key,  and  never  find  it  more." 

(B.  16.) 

Too  many  need  to  be  reminded  that  the  term  dead^  as  applied  to 
language,  is  not  equivalent  to  lifeless  or  barren.  It  is  not  always 
true  that  "  a  living  dog  is  better  than  a  dead  lion ; "  and  the  solemn 
words,  "he  being  dead  yet  speaketli,"  are  true  scarcely  more  of  the 
great  departed,  tlian  of  the  language  he  spoke  or  wrote.  We  even 
see  no  small  gain  in  the  possession  of  a  language  undefiled  by  tlie 
vulgarizing  associations,  the  cant,  and  slang,  and  gossip  of  daily  life. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  are  constrained  to  reject  as  invalid,  not  a 
few  of  the  arguments  employed  in  defence  of  "  classical  "  instruction. 
We  hear  too  much  of  the  great  benefit  which  the  revival  of  ancient 
literature  rendered  to  the  world  in  the  middle  ages, — a  benefit 
which  has  been  transmitted  even  to  our  time,  and  which,  it  would 
seem,  requires  us,  if  we  would  not  be  ungrateful,  to  maintain  the 
study  of  the  ancient  classics  as  thoroughly  and  extensively  now  as  then. 
The  argument  may  not  be  put  precisely  in  this  form  ;  but  it  really 
comes  to  this :  else,  what  avails  the  declamation  about  "  the  classic 
sun  scattering  the  darkness  of  ages,"  and  much  to  a  similar  effect  k 
We  grant  that  the  study  of  the  Greek  and  the  Roman  languages' 
and  literature  ought  to  be  maintained,  and  that  some  members  of  the 
community  ought,  for  admitted  reasons,  to  attain  proficiency  therein ; 
but  it  surely  does  not  follow,  by  any  simple  and  unquestionable  infe- 
rence, that  the  whole  body  of  our  educated  youth  ought  to  devote 
themselves  to  that  study, — especially  if,  as  is  alleged,  so  many  years 
of  severe  labor  are  required  for  their  tolerable  mastery, — a  period, 
moreover,  through  which,  from  the  nature  of  things,  so  few  can  pass, 
as  the  large  majority  of  pupils  leave  school  at  an  early  and  imper- 
fect stage  of  ''  classical "  attainment.  If  this  be  right,  it  must  be 
justified  on  other  and  quite  independent  ground.  And  yet  those  two 
things,  so  widely  different,  are  perpetually  confounded.  There  are,  in 
fact,  three  questions  which  it  is  indispensable  to  disentangle  and  to  keep 
distinct : — 1st.  The  obligations  of  our  modern  literature  to  the  ancient ;  *^ 
2d.  The  importance  of  preserving  the  ancient  languages  from  neglect  ^ 
and  oblivion ;    3d.  The   utility  of  subjecting  all  our  youth  indiseri-  *- 


6 

minately  to  a  course  of  classical  discipline.  Too  often  have  we  occa- ' 
sion  to  observe  that  arguments  in  favor  really  of  the  first,  and  still 
oftener  of  the  second  of  these  positions,  are  perverted  to  the  support 
of  the  third. 
/  Again,  we  cannot  grant  the  monopoly  of  aesthetic  culture,  so  often 
claimed  for  the  ancient  classics.  The  very  word  "  classics  "  itself  is 
a  sort  of  petrified  expression  of  this  fallacy.  At  the  time  when  the 
title  was  bestowed,  its  appropriateness  was  beyond  a  doubt;  but 
since  the  whole  wealth  of  modem  literature  has  been  created,  the 
title  has  ceased  to  be  exclusively  applicable,  and  ought  no  longer  to  be 
exclusively  applied.  Of  our  own  English  authors  we  need  not  speak ; 
but  when  we  have  such  writers  in  German  as  Wieland,  and  Goethe, 
Kichter  and  Schiller ;  in  French  as  Bossuet,  Voltaire,  Moliere,  and 
Corneille ;  in  Italian  as  Dante,  Tasso,  Ariosto,  and  Machiavelli : — the 
term  "  classics "  ought  never  to  be  applied  even  to  the  immortal 
productions  of  Greek  or  Eoman  fame,  without  the  word  "  ancient " 
prefixed,  by  way  of  a  saving  clause  in  favor  of  modern  classics,  which 
also  well  deserve  the  name.  On  this  subject  one  of  the  stanchest 
advocates  of  "  classical "  training  very  justly  remarks:  "  The  raptures 
which  some  people  seem  to  feel  in  perusing  Homer  and  Virgil,  Livy 
and  Tacitus',  while  they  turn  over  the  pages  of  Shakspeare  and 
Milton,  Hume  and  Robertson,  with  coldness  and  indifi*erence,  I  hold 
to  be  either  pure  afiectation,  or  gross  self-delusion  ;  being  fully  satis- 
fied that  we  are  in  no  want  of  models  in  our  own  English  tongue, 
which,  for  depth  of  thought,  soundness  of  reasoning,  for  truth  of  nar- 
rative, and  what  has  been  called  the  philosophy  of  history,  nay  even 
for  poetical  beauty,  tenderness,  and  sublimity,  may  fairly  challenge 
comparison  with  the  most  renowned  productions  of  antiquity."  *  -^ 
We  are  M^ell  aware  that  nothing  very  new  can  remain  to  be  said 
upon  a  topic  so  often  debated ;  yet  as  it  is  one  of  ever  increasing  im- 
portance, we  venture  to  lay  before  our  readers  the  following  few 
pages,  in  which  we  have  collected  in  condensed  form  the  views  of 
those  who  have  meditated  most  on  the  subject,  and  which,  from  their 
being  scattered  through  many  volumes  and  various  languages,  may 
■well  nave  escaped  the  attention  of  even  those  most  interested  in  the 
cause  of  education.  Not  that  in  these  matters  we  should  blindly  fol- 
low every  thing  foreign  ;  nor  should  we  always  reject  it  merely  on 
account  of  its  being  so.  What  Mr.  Cousin  affirms  of  the  true  great- 
ness of  a  people,  essentially  applies  to  education  : — "  It  does  not  con- 
sist in  borrowing  nothing  from  others,  but  in  borrowing  from  all 
whatever  is  good,  and  in  improving  whatever  it  appropriates."  ^     In 

*  J.  PiLLANS.   The  Rationale  of  School  Discipline.    Lect.  iii. 
'  V.  Cousin.  LcQons  de  Philosophie  d  VEcoU  Normalc. 


e 


another  place  this  great  philosopher  wiys,  "  The  science  of  education 
is  an  essential  branch  of  moral  and  political  philosophy,  and,  like  all 
other  departments  of  science  worthy  of  that  name,  it  has  need  of 
being  surrounded  by  the  light  of  experience ;  and  to  avoid  the  danger 
of  being  misled  by  fantastic  theories,  we  must  lose  no  opportunity  of 
obtaining  an  accurate  acquaintance  with  the  vaiious  systems  of  edu- 
cation that  are  followed  by  all  great  civilized  nations."  * 

Unfortunately,  this  branch  of  social  science  has  not  yet  received 
with  us  that  share  of  attention  to  which  its  importance  renders  it 
entitled :  the  consequence  is,  that,  while  our  arts  have  made  im- 
mense progress,  and  our  manufactures  have  undergone  admirable 
improvements,  the  art  of  instructing  men  is  still  subject  to  the  baneful 
influence  of  tradition  and  routine.  Educational  questions,  like  ques- 
tions of  law,  are  yet  apt  to  be  decided  by  precedent;  and  often  a 
subject  continues  to  be  studied,  rather  because  antiquity  has  sanc- 
tioned the  practice,  than  because  its  value  is  clearly  seen.  But  this 
slavish  idolatry  of  the  past  ossifies  the  human  mind,  and  keeps  it 
in  hopeless  bondage.  The  world  is  now  older  than  it  was  in  the 
days  of  our  ancestors  :  they  were  our  juniors;  they  had  only  their 
own  experience,  we  have  theirs  in  addition  to  ours;  our  minds 
are  fed  in  our  childhood  with  the  fruit  of  their  maturity ;  we  start 
in  our  career  with  many  advantages  of  which  they  were  de- 
prived :  we,  consequent!}^,  ought  to  know  more,  and  be  more  ca- 
pable of  discerning  right  from  wrong.  It  is,  then,  contrary  to 
reason  to  sacrifice  our  views  to  theirs,  and  to  make  their  opinions 
the  standard  of  our  conduct. 

The  objects  of  instruction  being  now  greatly  multiplied,  it  must 
be  obvious  to  all,  that  the  time  formerly  devoted  to  "classical" 
learning  must  be  proportionally  shortened,  to  make  room  for  the 
study  of  branches  of  knowledge  indispensable  in  our  advanced  state 
of  civilization.  Availing  ourselves  of  the  favorable  position  in  which 
we  are  placed  by  the  present  state  of  educational  science,  we  will, 
therefore,  before  entering  upon  our  subject,  commence  our  inquiry 
by  briefly  recapitulating  the  general  principles  of  this  branch  of  so- 
cial science,  introducing  a  general  summary  of  the  acquirements  which 
a  complete  education  should  comprise,  in  order  to  attach  to  each 
study  its  relative  importance,  and  thereby  determine  the  branches  of 
learning  and  the  departments  of  language  most  required  at  the  pre- 
sent day. 

*  V.  Cousin.  De  V Education  en  Hollnnde. 


^  'V!ft„.   , 


Education,  the  first  want  of  society,  proposes  to  confer  on  man 
the  highest  improvement  of  which  his  hody^  his  mind^  and  his  soul 
are  capable,  with  a  view  to  secure  his  well-being,  to  fit  him  for  so- 
ciety, and  to  prepare  him  for  a  better  world.  Hence,  general  edu- 
cation is  divided  into  three  branches — Physical^  Intellectual^  and 
Moral.  The  first  aims  at  health,  strength,  and  beauty ;  the  second, 
at  mental  power  and  the  acquisition  of  knowledge ;  and  the  third, 
at  piety,  justice,  goodness,  and  wisdom. 

To  effect  the  gradual  perfectibility  of  man's  physical,  moral,  and 
intellectual  constitution,  and  to  secure  the  various  acquirements 
which  constitute  his  highest  improvement,  God  has  given  him — in 
addition  to  the  instinctive  impulses  which  he  possesses  in  common 
with  other  animals — physical,  moral,  and  intellectual  faculties,  or  in- 
nate powers  of  action,  susceptible  of  being  improved,  and  which  it  is 
his  duty,  as  well  as  his  interest,  to  cultivate  within  rational  limits. 
Consistently  with  his  original  freedom,  he  has  been  endowed  with 
the  privilege  of  exerting  over  his  faculties  a  voluntary  control,  by 
which  he  can  modify,  regulate,  and  peifect  them  ;  thus,  he  becomes 
the  subject  of  culture  and  discipline.  Different  from  the  animal 
tribes,  which  reach  the  perfection  of  their  being,  not  by  gradual  de- 
velopment, but  at  once,  and  without  the  aid  of  education,  he  is  a 
progressive  creature ;  his  powers  are  unfolded,  and  his  acquisitions 
made  only  through  a  process  of  slow  and  careful  training.  He  has 
to  learn  every  thing,  while  they  instinctively  possess  all  the  know- 
ledge which  they  want.  Education  is  the  law  of  his  nature,  as  un- 
controllable and  limited  instinct  is  that  of  the  brute. 

41 1  thft  aoq^^irftrnftnts  which  contribute  towards  human  perfec- 
tion, arise  from  a  proper  cultivation  of  the  faculties.  E^Sgrcise  is  the 
source  of  that  cultivation ;  it  is  the  vital  principle  of  education. 
Exercise  affects  the  original  powers  of  man's  constitution  in  two 
ways;  it  imparts  to  them  energy  in  proportion  to  its  quantity,  and 
generates  peculiar  qualities,  aptitudes,  or  capacities,  consistently 
with  its  particular  nature.  But  in  the  application  of  this  great 
principle,  excess  and  exclusiveness  must  be  avoided.  An  excessive 
or  exclusive  exercise  of  any  faculty  would  be  as  prejudicial  as  its 
utter  neglect.  It  is  the  preponderating  activity  of  some  one  faculty 
to  the  exclusion  of  others,  or  the  over-indulgence  in  one  particular 
mode  of  its  actions,  which  produces  those  inconsistencies  of  character, 


those  aberrations  of  mind,  often  observed  in  men.  Athouoh  the 
innate  powers  are  few  in  number,  the  qualities,  aptitudes,  and 
capacities  to  which  their  varied  exercise,  and  their  different  degrees 
of  native  activity  give  rise,  are  so  numerous,  so  divereified,  and  so 
opposite  in  their  kind,  that  man  may  be  the  noblest,  or  the  most 
contemptible  being  of  the  creation,  according  as  they  are  properly, 
or  improperly  directed  and  exercised.  Hence,  although  his  organ- 
ization is  universal  and  invariable,  his  physical,  moral,  and  intellec- 
tual character,  which  depends  on  the  qualities  acquired,  varies  with 
time,  place,  and  the  2)r off i-ess  of  civilization. 

The  faculties  have  all  their  legitimate  spheres  of  usefulness,  and 
the  benefits  to  be  derived  from  each  depend  on  their  harmonious 
development.  They  are,  in  fact,  different  instruments,  all  of  which 
are  indispensable  for  attaining  man's  possible  perfection ;  and,  as 
such,  they  require  to  be  duly  improved,  and  properly  applied,  to  se- 
cure the  ends  for  which  he  was  placed  on  this  earth.  Although 
connected  by  secret  ties,  the  faculties  are  yet  so  independent  of 
each  other,  that  each  demands  special  and  distinct  exercises  for  its 
due  cultivation.  It  is  the  noble  office  of  education  to  direct  their 
natural  activity,  to  extend  and  multiply  their  various  energies,  as 
also  to  indicate  the  means  by  which  they  may  best  perform  their 
work,  and  by  which  they  are  most  subservient  to  happiness. 

In  order  to  advance  towards  the  threefold  perfection,  physical, 
moral,  and  intellectual,  education  should  take  under  her  guidance 
the  faculties  of  man,  as  they  gradually  dawn,  with  a  view  to  aid 
their  spontaneous  action,  and  improve  them  by  proper  cultivation. 
Al  the  moment  of  birth  they  are  in  complete  torpor.  The  physical 
faculties,  are  the  firet  which  manifest  themselves,  because  they  are 
indispensable  to  our  existence ;  next  appear  the  moral  faculties,  to 
direct  the  organs  of  sensation,  and  to  secure  the  well-being  of  the 
individual.  The  intellectual  powers  are  usually  the  last  to  be  in  full 
activity.  Thus  nature  indicates  the  order  to  be  followed  in  the  suc- 
cessive cultivation  of  these  different  classes  of  faculties,  until  the 
general  manifestation  of  them  all  permits  their  simultaneous  train- 
ing. The  principle  of  slow  progression  runs  through  all  that  is 
created  to  grow  and  improve.  Gradation  is  an  invariable  law  of 
nature ;  and  it  is  in  conformity  to  that  law  that  the  great  art  of 
education  consists. 

Youth  is  the  season  of  life  assigned  by  Providence  for  giving 
a  proper  direction  to  the  faculties,  for  training  the  habits,  and 
laying  the  foundation  of  the  physical,  moral,  and  mental  character. 
Still,  education  does  not  end  here:  it  continues  throughout  our  earth- 
ly existence.  The  discipline  to  which  man  is  subjected  while 
young,  ought  to  be  considered  only  as  a  preparation  for  the  great 
1* 


10 

education  of  life ;  its  primary  object  \s  to  enable  him  to  improve 
himself  afterwards,  and  to  adapt  himself  to  the  particular  circum- 
stances in  which  it  shall  please  Providence  to  place  him. 

The  threefold  process  which  transforms  the  most  helpless  being 
into  the  noblest  work  of  God,  is  too  vast  in  its  details  to  per- 
mit us  to  do  justice  to  the  subject  in  these  few  pages,  which  are 
not  offered  as  a  treatise  on  education,  but  merely  intended  to  exhibit 
the  fundamental  principles  of  the  Science  of  Education,  on  which 
should  be  based  the  study  of  languages,  the  main  object  here  under 
consideration.  They  should  be  constantly  kept  in  view,  as  no  sys- 
tem of  instruction  can  be  safe  or  successful,  which  has  not  its  foun- 
dation in  a  knowledge  of  the  constitution  of  man,  and  which  is  not 
formed  with  due  regard  to  the  end  proposed  in  education. 

/■" 
f     Physical  Education  has  for  its  objects  the  preservation  of  health, 
the  cultivation  of  the  physical  faculties,  and  the  acquisition  of  useful 
arts  and  accomplishments. 

Physical  perfection  may  be  said  to  consist  in  bodily  strength  and 
beauty,  which  are  the  oflfspring  of  a  healthy  constitution  and  of  well- 
developed  organs.  The  child  generally  comes  into  the  world  in  a 
healthy  condition ;  it  is  the  duty  of  the  educator,  whether  the  parent 
or  his  substitute,  to  preserve  him  so.  Hygiene  prescribes  for  this 
object  rules,  w^hich  are  but  too  often  neglected.  It  would  be  im- 
possible to  state  the  extent  of  injury  done  to  humanity  by  the  almost 
universal  ignorance  of  this  important  branch  of  the  medical  science. 
The  benefits  of  health  are  not  confined  to  the  individual ;  they  ex- 
tend to  the  community  and  to  the  future  generation.  And  not  only 
does  health  affect  physical  education,  it  has  a  direct  influence  on 
moral  and  intellectual  training.  Health,  in  fact,  is  the  foundation 
of  the  whole  edifice  of  education.  The  mind  is  incapable  of  exerting 
all  its  energies  and  the  heart  its  kindliest  an^'ections,  if  the  body  is  in 
a  state  of  debility  or  disease. 

The  connection  between  the  body  and  the  mind,  and  their  re- 
ciprocal dependence  on  each  other,  as  established  by  physiology  and 
psychology,  should  never  be  lost  sight  of.  An  educator  must  under- 
stand the  animal  economy  of  man,  in  order  to  study  with  advantage 
his  higher  faculties.  Whatever  he  attempts  to  teach,  from  the  first 
elements  of  knowledge  to  the  higher  truths  of  science,  his  success 
will  depend  in  a  great  measure  on  his  acquaintance  with  the  functions 
of  the  human  frame,  and  on  the  extent  to  which  he  acts  in  obedience 
to  the  laws  of  physiology.  The  mental  and  the  moral  powers  with 
which  the  child  is  endowed,  manifest  themselves  thi*5ugh  the  medium 
of  organization,  and  no  plan  which  he  can  devise  will  be  successful 
for  their  cultivation,  that  is  not  in  harmony  with  the  laws  which 
regulate  that  organization. 


11 

As  the  healthy  development  of  the  individual,  as  far  as  it  can  be 
eflfected  by  a  close  attention  to  diet,  sleep,  cleanliness,  air  and  cloth- 
ing, devolves  more  particularly  on  the  parent,  we  may  leave  this 
matter  further  unnoticed  here,  and  limit  ourselves  to  a  few  brief 
remarks  on  the  cultivation  of  the  physical  powers  and  the  acquisition 
of  useful  arts  and  accomplishments. 

So  irresistible  is  the  natural  impulse  which  prompts  to  action  the 
muscles  and  limbs,  that,  in  health,  a  positive  pleasure  arises  from 
their  activity,  although  it  may  be  accompanied  with  fatigue  and  even 
danger:  their  inactivity  is,  on  the  contrary,  a  cause  of  much  uneasi- 
ness. A  judicious  training  of  these  organs  wound  tend  considerably 
to  improve  the  human  frame.  Grace  of  deportment,  elegance  of 
manners,  ease  of  motion,  strength,  activity,  dexterity,  and  all  that  is 
attractive  and  pleasing  in  the  physical  nature  of  man,  depend,  in  a 
great  measure,  on  well-directed  muscular  exercise. 

Gymnastic  exercises  afford  the  most  effective  means  of  cultiv^ating 
and  improving  the  muscular  system  and  the  locomotive  organs.  These 
exercises,  and  all  sports  which  demand  physical  activity,  call  the 
muscles  and  bones  into  action,  strengthen  the  limbs,  and  impart  a 
healthy  tone  to  the  organs:  under  their  influence  the  blood  circftlates 
freely,  the  respiration  is  quickened,  the  digestion  becomes  active,  the 
nervous  system  is  invigorated,  and  the  redundant  fluids  are  driven 
off  by  perspiration.  More  attention  should  be  paid  to  this  branch 
of  hygiene,  as  it  is  important  to  a  state  to  possess  an  active  and 
vigorous  population.  It  was  amongst  the  Greeks  and  the  Romans, 
the  basis  of  national  education.  The  great  attention  which  they 
paid  to  it  contributed  not  a  little  to  the  success  of  their  arms.  The 
Greeks,  especially,  were  as  a  nation  physically  and  intellectually  a 
superior  race  of  men  ;  and  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  their 
unrivalled  attention  to  physical  education  was  highly  dnfluential  in 
producing  this  result. 

Gymnastics  embrace  all  the  accomplishments  of  which  the  organs 
of  voluntary  motion  are  the  instrument",  and  which  may  be  resorted 
to  as  relaxation  from  mental  labor.  Still  they  should  not  be  indis- 
criminately pursued ;  and,  although  they  are  generally  beneficial, 
yet  as  they  have  each  their  special  sphere  of  physical  improvement, 
perseverance  in  any  of  them  should  be  regulated  by  the  particular 
circumstances  of  the  individual.  In  making  a  selection,  therefore, 
the  preference  should  be  given  to  tliose  which  favor  most  the  culti- 
vation of  attention,  demand  most  dexterity,  are  most  consistent  with 
future  pursuits,  and  present  the  greatest  chance  of  utility  in  after 
life. 

•^^  Young  persons  should  be  induced  to  attend  to  manual  occupa- 
tions and  useful  arts,  which  might  alternate  with  mental  pui-suits ; 
8uch  occiipations  and  arts  would  not  only  be  to  them  a  never-failing 


12 

source  of  amusement,  but  would  give  them  early  in  life  a  command 
of  their  hands,  and  would  usefully  exercise  their  organs  of  sense. 
The  excellence  at  which  mere  children  often  arrive  in  mechanical 
operations  and  in  some  of  the  fine  arts,  as  may  have  been  seen  at 
a  late  exhibition  of  the  New  York  Board  of  Education,  sufficiently 
proves  the  early  natural  capabilities  of  the  physical  powers,  and  the 
law  of  nature,  in  regard  to  the  order  of  physical  and  intellectual 
education. 

The  activity  of  the  physical  faculties  being  always,  in  their  de- 
velopment, in  advance  of  that  of  the  mind,  manual  occupations  not 
only  may  be  indulged  in  before  intellectual  exercises  can  be  seriously 
commenced,  but  serve  as  the  best  preparation  for  them ;  because 
most  mechanical  pursuits  demand  the  co-operation  of  the  mental 
powers.  They  particularly  exercise  attention  and  perception  ;  they 
incite  a  spirit  of  observation  and  invention ;  they  habituate  the 
mind  to  the  formation  of  plans,  and  the  observance  of  proportion  ; 
they  bring  out,  in  fact,  every  intellectual  resource. 

The  practice  of  any  art,  even  the  simplest,  is  the  application  of 
some  of  the  principles  of  science  :  familiarizing  young  people  with 
facts  illustrative  of  these,  will,  at  a  future  period,  render  their  study 
of  science  more  interesting  and  profitable,  as  presenting  to  them 
innumerable  opportunities  of  applying  to  practical  utility  the  one  in 
which  they  may  be  thus  engaged.  Mechanical  ingenuity  has  in 
many  instances  given  rise  to  intellectual  pursuits  of  the  first  order. 
Many  discoveries  in  the  arts,  have  led  to  the  discovery  of  unknown 
laws  in  nature,  and  of  new  principles  in  science  ;  for,  in  the  progress 
of  knowledge,  theory  generally  follows  practice.  Had  Mongolfier 
not  been  a  practical  as  well  as  a  scientific  man,  the  hydraulic  ram 
might  for  ever  have  remained  as  speculative  and  useless  a  philosophi- 
cal project  as  it  was  in  the  hands  of  Hales. 

If  children  are  accustomed  to  the  use  of  tools,  and  are  grad- 
ually taught  to  work  in  paper,  pasteboard,  wood,  and  metals,  as 
their  physical  progress  permits  the  difficulty  to  be  increased,  they 
will  soon  acquire  a  mechanical  skill  which  may,  at  a  future  time, 
prove  very  beneficial  to  themselves  and  to  others.  Manual  dexterity 
makes  us,  in  a  great  measure,  independent  of  others,  and  gives  us 
the  means  of  providing  for  our  own  comforts  in  most  of  the  circum- 
stances of  life.  It  is  indispensable  in  many  professions,  but  particu- 
larly to  the  votaries  of  natural  philosophy.  Those  who  have  dis- 
tinguished themselves  in  high  conceptions  in  the  sciences,  and  by 
useful  inventions  in  the  arts,  have,  for  the  most  part,  early  in  hfe 
displayed  a  taste  for  mechanical  operations,  and  have  constructed 
with  their  own  hands  the  instruments  or  apparatus  necessary  for 
illustrating  their  discoveries.    Archimedes  fabricated  his  own  wonder- 


18 

ful  machines ;  Galileo  made  his  own  telescopes ;  Torricelli  his  barome- 
ters ;  Michael  Anorelo,  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  Roarer  Bacon,  Benjamin 
Franklin,  Kepler,  Herschel,  Pascal,  Newton,  Watt,  Fulton,  Brindley, 
Humphrey  Davy,  Cuvier,  Morse,  Babbage,  Lord  Rosse,  and  many 
others,  were  aided  by  their  mechanical  skill  in  gaining  celebrity, 
fortune,  and  the  enviable  glory  of  being  the  benefactors  of  mankind. 

Locke  and  J.  J.  Rousseau  have  recommended  mechanical  pur- 
suits— the  first  as  a  substitute  for  "  the  useless  and  dangerous  pas- 
time of  fashion,"  the  second  as  a  provision  against  adversity.  We 
go  farther,  and  advocate  such  pursuits  as  necessary  accompaniments 
to,  and  powerful  means  of  intellectual  education,  and  as  the  great 
instruments  of  civilization.  Labor  and  industry  are  for  nations  the 
safest  means  of  prosperity,  as  they  are  for  individuals  the  purest 
sources  of  property  and  independence.  Hence  the  industrial  ele- 
ment should  enter  more  largely  than  it  usually  does  in  primary  edu- 
cation. Indeed,  no  system  of  education  is  complete  which  does  not 
provide,  by  due  attention  to  useful  arts,  for  the  activity  of  the  physical 
powers,  for  relaxation  from  mental  labor,  and  against  reverses  of  for- 
tune. There  is  no  station  in  society,  be  it  ever  so  high,  which  may 
dispense  with  them  altogether.  Many  instances  might  be  recorded 
in  which  powerful  princes  have  derived  benefit  from  skill  in  manual 
occupations.  By  a  law  of  Solon,  the  children  whose  parents  had 
neglected  to  have  them  instructed  in  some  profitable  trade,  were  re- 
lieved from  the  obligation  of  maintaining  them  in  their  old  age. 

But  however  important  physical  training  may  be,  it  should  be 
kept  within  judicious  bounds,  as  an  excessive  activity  of  the  physical 
faculties  is  usually  acquired  at  the  expense  of  higjjier  faculties.  It  is  a 
well-known  fact,  that  mental  excellence  is  rarely  the  portion  of  those 
who  devote  much  care  and  time  in  increasing  the  volume  of  their  body 
and  the  force  of  their  muscles.  We  ought  to  seek  in  muscular  ac- 
tion only  a  means  of  health  and  diversion,  without  aiming  at  a  su- 
periority which  is  not  consistent  with  the  occupation  of  a  highly 
cultivated  mind.  "  Men,"  observes  Londe,  "  who  give  themselves  up 
exclusively  to  muscular  exertions,  are  deficient  in  sensitiveness,  moral 
tact,  reflection,  and  intellectual  labor."  ^  "It  would  be  ditScult," 
aays  also  Richerand,  "  to  find  in  history  the  example  of  a  man  who 
has  combined  with  the  physical  powers,  which  the  muscular  tem- 
perament implies,  distinguished  strength  of  the  intellectual  faculties. 
For  excellency  in  the  fine  arts  and  in  the  sciences,  there  is  need  of 
exquisite  sensibility,  a  condition  absolutely  at  variance  with  much  de- 
velopment of  the  muscular  masses."  "     Tissot's  aphorism  will  be 


*  Gymncutiqm  M^ieale.  '  Nouveava.  Elements  de  Physiologie. 


14 

found  true,  in  general,  that  "  the  man  who  thinks  the  most  digests 
the  woi'st,  and  vice  versaj  he  who  thinks  the  least  digests  the 
best."  1 


> 


Moral  Education  has  for  its  object  the  cultivation  and  direc- 
tion of  the  moral  faculties,  so  as  to  enable  us,  through  their  means, 
first,  to  acquire  the  virtues  and  fulfil  the  duties  required  by  our  con- 
dition as  creatures  of  God,  and  social  beings;  and  secondly,  to  imbibe 
the  sentiments  and  inclinations  which  can  insure  individual  happiness. 

The  moral  faculties  which  education  proposes  to  cultivate  and  di- 
rect, in  order  to  unfold  the  qualities  which  constitute  moral  acquire- 
ments, and  to  advance  towards  moral  perfection,  are.  Self-love^ 
Sym'patliy^  Curiosity^  Conscience^  and  Will. 

These  moral  faculties,  like  the  physical  faculties,  are  inherent  in 
our  nature;  they  exist  in  every  individual,  independently,  of  exercise 
or  reflection ;  but  their  activity  is  greater  or  less,  according  to  their 
original  degree  of  energy,  which  varies  in  different  individuals,  and 
according,  also,  as  they  have,  or  have  not  been  cultivated  :  whereas 
the  moral  acquirements,  that  is,  the  consciousness  of  duties,  the  vir- 
tues, affections,  and  inclinations  which  proceed  from  these  faculties, 
and  which  constitute  the  elements  of  inety^  justice^  goodness  and 
wisdom,  exist  in  man  only  as  a  consequence  of  the  predominating 
energy  of  certain  faculties,  or  inasmuch  as  they  have  been  inculcated 
by  suitable  example  and  exercise.  Apprenticeship  is  as  essential  for 
acquiring  benevolence,  disinterestedness,  prudence,  and  patience,  as 
it  is  for  attaining  skill  in  any  gymnastic  feat  or  handicraft  trade. 
The  law  of  exercise  is  universal  in  its  application.  Moral  precepts 
may  be  brought  to  the  aid  of  practice ;  but,  to  be  effective,  they 
must  be  the  generalization  of  good  and  virtuous  acts  which  have 
previously  come  under  the  notice  of  the  child;  otherwise  they  liave 
no  meaning.  A  precept  of  morality  is  an  abstraction ;  and  it  is  not 
by  abstractions,  by  definitions,  or  by  general  principles,  that  virtue 
can  be  deeply  inculcated  in  the  hearts  of  children.  Good  habits, 
fostered  by  exara|)Ie,  are  the  foundation  of  a  truly  moral  education. 

By  dint  of  doing  what  is  right,  we  at  length  find  it  difficult  to 
do  what  is  wrong.  "  Make  sobriety  a  habit,"  says  Lord  Brougham, 
*'  and  intemperance  will  be  hateful  and  hard  :  make  prudence  a  ha- 
bit, and  reckless  profligacy  will  be  as  contrary  to  the  nature  of  the 
child  grown  an  adult,  as  the  most  atrocious  ci'imes  are  to  any  of  us. 
Give  a  child  the  habit  of  sacredly  regarding  the  truth,  of  carefully 
respecting  the  property  of  others,  of  scrupulously  abstaining  from  all 
acts  of  improvidence  which  can  involve  him  in   distress,  and  he  will 

^  De  la  Sante  des  Gens  de  Letlres. 


15 

just  as  little  think  of  lying,  or  cheating,  or  stealing,  as  of  rushing 
into  an  element  in  which  ho  cannot  breathe."' 

Still,  practice  has  its  liinits:  a  bhnd  and  excessive  indulgence  of 
^gZ/'-Zore  would  produce  egotism ;  of  AS'ym^^a^/iy,  weakness ;  of  Cu- 
riosity^ indiscretion;  of  Conscience^  irresolution;  and  of  Will^  obsti- 
nacy. Excess  in  the  moral  acquirements  would  be  equally  injurious. 
Benevolence  may  instigate  to  generosity,  at  the  expense  of  justice; 
a  father  may  carry  firmness  to  tyranny,  and  a  mother  the  love  of 
her  child  to  blamable  indulgence ;  blind  patriotism  may  engender 
avei*sion  for  other  nations.  Whether  we  aim  at  the  cultivation  of 
faculties,  or  at  the  acquisition  of  moral  qualities,  excess  and  exclu- 
siveness  must  be  carefully  avoided. 

It  is  the  sacred  duty,  as  it  is  the  noblest  privilege,  of  parents  to 
secure  for  their  children,  and  to  disseminate  through  society,  the  be- 
nefits of  moral  education.  But,  among  the  numerous  portion  of  the 
population  whose  life  is  consumed  in  incessant  labors,  and  to  whose 
industry,  fatigue,  and  privations  the  nation  is  indebted  for  its  wealth 
and  power,  parents  are  often  deprived  of  sufficient  leisure  to  watch 
over  their  offspring,  or  are  destitute  of  the  moral  character  indispen- 
sable for  guiding  them  in  the  path  of  duty  and  virtue;  well  informed 
educators  should  therefore  supply  their  deficiency.  A  portion  of  the 
revenues  of  the  state  could  not  be  better  employed  than  in  moralizing 
and  improving  those  who  contribute  so  largely  to  them.  Secular 
education  ought  to  be  under  the  superintendence  of  government,  and 
enforced  upon  the  people  by  legislative  enactment. 

There  are  still  persons  who  object  to  this  interference  with  pa- 
rental authority  and  private  speculation,  as  an  infringement  upon 
the  liberties  of  the  people;  but  they  forget  three  things — first,  that 
the  child  belongs  to  the  state  as  well  as  to  the  family ;  secondly,  that 
the  great  majority  of  parents  are  much  in  need  of  direction  for 
the  proper  training  of  their  children ;  thirdly,  that  the  unavoidable 
influence  for  good  or  evil  of  the  teachers  over  youth,  makes  it  impe- 
rative on  the  part  of  society  to  examine  their  qualifications,  and 
superintend  the  discharge  of  their  office,  in  order  to  secure  the  com- 
munity from  the  dreadful  consequences  of  ignorance,  imbecility,  or 
immorality  on  their  part. 

It  may  be  inconsistent  with  liberty  to  force  a  special  instruction 
upon  the  people,  because  the  kind  of  instruction  best  for  individuals 
being  a  matter  of  opinion,  it  is  neither  just  nor  proper  to  impose 
any  in  particular ;  but  moral  education^  exclusive  of  religious  dis- 
tinctions, does  not  differ  in  kind  with  the  social  position  and  the 
future  avocation  of  children.  Morality  is  one  and  the  same  for  all, 
and  is  imperative  upon  all ;  the  tranquillity,  the  prosperity,  the  veiy 
existence  of  society  depend  upon  it.     We  do  not  see  how  its  being 


16 

made  obligatory,  or  how  the  right,  on  the  part  of  the  state,  to  in- 
stitute, superintend,  and  inspect  educational  establishments,  could 
interfere  with  the  liberty  of  the  people,  any  more  than  the  obliga- 
tion to  pay  taxes,  refrain  from  dishonesty,  or  submit  to  the  intrusion 
and  inquisitiveness  of  custom-house  officers.  The  compulsory  moral- 
ization  of  the  depraved  is  far  more  justifiable  and  more  consistent 
with  liberty,  than  the  compulsory  detention  of  mendicants,  or  the 
prohibition  of  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors. 

That  legislative  interference  with  national  education  is  consistent 
with  the  respect  due  to  parental  authority  and  to  private  industry, 
is  so  manifest,  that  the  principle  is  carried  out  with  general  satisfac- 
tion, and  almost  without  opposition  in  this  country,  ^vhere  the  rights 
of  individuals  and  the  liberty  of  conscience  are  more  largely  recog- 
nized than  any  where  else.  Plato  and  Aristotle,  Washington  and 
Jefferson,  all  stanch  republicans,  are  among  its  warmest  advocates. 
The  legislature  of  a  free  and  civilized  country  is  not  only  entitled, 
but  is  bound  to  provide  the  most  efficient  means  of  preventing  immo- 
rality from  entailing  degradation  and  barbarism  on  the  nation.  A 
government  which  does  not  give  moral  education  to  the  people,  has 
no  right  to  expect  from  them  order  and  support ;  nor  can  the  law, 
consistently  with  justice,  punish  faults  which  have  been  committed 
in  the  absence  of  the  moral  consciousness  which  it  is  the  object  of 
good  education  to  impart.  In  fact,  the  nearer  to  perfection  and  the 
more  general  education  is,  the  less  will  the  laws  need  to  punish. 

The  venerable  Von  Tiick,  the  present  Head  of  the  Orphan 
House  in  Potsdam,  acting  under  the  influence  of  this  truth,  has  set 
to  the  world  an  illustrious  example  of  self-denial  and  Christian 
charity.  A  nobleman  by  birth,  and  for  fourteen  years  a  judge  in 
one  of  the  courts  of  Pru'^sia,  he  had,  during  his  practice  in  this  high 
office,  to  try  so  many  criminal  cases  arising  solely  from  the  early 
neglect  of  the  education  of  the  culprits,  that  he  at  last  felt  reluctant 
to  pronounce  sentence  of  condemnation  upon  them ;  and,  impressed 
with  the  subHme  truth  that  the  teacher  who  saves  his  fellow-citizens 
from  committing  crimes,  does  more  good  than  the  magistrate  who 
waits  for  their  perpetration  to  inffict  punishment,  he  resigned  his 
office,  with  all  its  honors  and  emoluments,  to  become  an  educator. 
It  is  especially  among  that  numerous  portion  of  the  people,  the  la- 
borers and  operatives,  that  moral  principles  should  be  early  imbibed 
and  virtuous  habits  formed.  The  interest  of  society  and  their  own 
happiness  require,  above  all,  that  they  should  be  impressed  with  the 
conviction  that,  if  knowledge  opens  the  road  to  success,  virtue  is  in- 
finitely superior  to  knowledge,  and  that  piety,  justice ^  goodness,  and 
wisdom,  are  the  greatest  blessings  of  education,  and  the  acquirements 
most  worthy  of  their  ambition. 


Intellectual  Education  consists  in  two  dislinct  oojects — the 
cultivation  of  the  intellectual  faculties  properly  defined  as  Education^ 
and  the  consequent  acquiring  of  knowledge,  called  Instruction. 

Hence  we  see  that  instruction  is  only  one  of  the  subdivisions  of 
education.  The  latter  has  for  its  object  the  perfecting  of  the  whole  man, 
considered  physically,  morally,  and  intellectually ;  instruction  pro-  • 
poses  solely  to  store  his  mind  with  information.  Education  is  a  generic^ 
instruction  a  sj)€cific  term.  These  words,  education  and  instruction^ 
educator  and  instructor^  must  not  be  confounded  one  with  the  other. 

The  intellectual,  like  the  physical  and  moral  faculties,  should  be 
cultivated  by  exercises  calculated  to  produce  their  greatest  devel- 
opment, and  tending  to  secure  intellectual  acquirements.  It  is 
on  the  external  world,  and  through  the  medium  of  his  senses,  that 
the  child  can  most  profitably  exercise  his  opening  intellect.  His 
sensations  and  curiosity  constantly  call  his  intellectual  powers  into 
play,  while  conscience  and  will  direct  their  action.  On  the  other 
hand,  physical  and  moral  life  require,  to  be  guided  by  the  light  of  in- 
tellect. Thus  are  the  operations  of  the  mind  intimately  connected 
with  those  of  the  body  and  of  the  soul.  The  diff'erent  orders  of  fa- 
culties assist  each  other  through  the  whole  course  of  education ;  but, 
although  the  physical  and  moral  development  during  infancy  and 
childhood  subserves  intellectual  education,  this  education  is  in  full  ac- 
tivity only  from  the  tenth  or  twelfth  year.  It  is,  therefore,  from  that 
age  only  that  exclusively  mental  studies  should  be  commenced. 

The  universal  admission  that  success  in  life  and  personal  consid- 
eration, depend  on  intellectual  development  and  extensive  knowledge, 
have  led  many,  in  their  ignorance  of  physiological  principles,  to 
force  mental  labor  on  young  children.  But  in  most  cases,  both  the 
nnnds  and  bodies  of  th(?.  little  sufferers  have  been  enfeebled  by  an 
over-exertion  of  the  brain,  when  as  yet  imperfectly  formed.  There 
is  nothing  more  painful  to  witness  than  the  unnatural*  disproportion 
which  mental  precocity  introduces  between  physical  and  intellectual 
life.  Parents  and  teachers  have  much  to  answer  for,  who,  regard- 
less of  the  manifest  designs  of  nature,  condemn  young  children  to 
sedentary  occupations,  and  force  intellectual  acquirements  upon  their 
tender  minds,  at  the  risk  of  unduly  exciting  the  nervous  system,  in- 
juring the  brain,  and  undermining  the  constitution.  So  close  is  the 
immediate  connection  between  mind  and  body,  that  the  former  can- 
not be  over-exerted  without  the  latter  feeling  the  baneful  effects  of 
the  undue  excitement. 

The  most  eminent  physicians  of  ancient  and  modern  times  pro- 
claim the  fatal  influence  which  overstraining  the  mind  of  youth  has 
on  the  health  and  bodily  frame.     Of  the  numerous  medical  authori- 


18 

ties  which  vie  could  bring  forward  on  this  point,  we  will  confine  our- 
selves to  one,  that  of  the  celebrated  Tissot,  who  says : — "  Long  con- 
tinued application  in  childhood  destroys  life.  I  have  seen  young 
children  of  great  mental  activity,  who  manifested  a  passion  for  learn- 
ing far  above  their  age,  and  I  foresaw  with  grief  the  fate  which 
awaited  them ;  they  commenced  their  career  as  prodigies,  and 
ended  by  becoming  idiots,  or  persons  of  veiy  weak  minds.  No 
custom  is  more  improper  or  cruel  than  that  of  some  parents,  who 
require  of  their  children  much  intellectual  labor  and  gi-eat  progress 
in  their  study.  It  is  the  tomb  of  their  talent  and  their  health."  * 
Of  those  who  have  survived  the  direful  effects  of  a  premature  and 
exclusive  excitement  of  the  mind,  few  indeed  have  ever  risen  to 
eminence. 

The  histories  of  the  nations  among  which  classical  literature  and 
the  sciences  have  been  much  cultivated,  and  which  have  consequently 
afforded  parents  opportunities  or  inducements  to  force  abstract  stu- 
dies upon  their  children,  abound  in  facts  which  prove  the  truth  of 
these  observations.  Intellectual  precocity  is  but  too  frequently  at- 
tended by  premature  death  or  debility  through  life.  The  instances 
are  very  rare  of  young  geniuses  having  arrived  at  old  age ;  whilst, 
on  the  contrary,  many  of  those  whose  education  began  comparatively 
late,  have  remained  engaged  to  the  end  of  a  long  life  in  the  most 
intensely  intellectual  labor. 

"  Experience,"  says  Dr.  Spurzheim,  "  demonstrates,  that  of  any 
number  of  children  of  equal  intellectual  power,  those  who  receive  no 
particular  care  in  childhood,  and  who  do  not  learn  to  read  and 
write  until  the  constitution  begins  to  be  consolidated,  but  who  enjo}" 
the  benefit  of  a  good  physical  education,  very  soon  surpass,  in  their 
studies,  those  who  commence  earlier  and  read  numerous  books  when 
very  young.  The  mind  ought  never  to  be  cultivated  at  the  expense 
of  the  body ;  and  physical  education  ought  to  precede  that  of  the  in- 
tellect, and  then  simultaneously  with  it,  without  cultivating  one  fa- 
culty to  the  neglect  of  others ;  for  health  is  the  base,  and  instruction 
the  ornament  of  education."  ^ 

The  mental  faculties  which  education  proposes  to  cultivate  are  : 
Attention,  Perception.  Conception,  Memorij,  Imagination  and  Judg- 
ment. These  faculties  have  for  their  common  object  the  acquisition 
of  knowledge,  or  instruction,  constituting  intellectual  acquirements ; 
each  performs  a  particular  oflSce  in  the  complicated  mental  process 
by  which  that  acquisition  is  made.  The  possession  in  the  various 
qualities  of  which  they  are  susceptible  would  constitute  an  active  and 

^  De  la  Sante  des  Gens  de  Lcttrea. 

'  View  of  the  Elementary  Principles  of  Education. 


19 

well-regulated  mind ;  the  greatest  advantage  which  intellectual  edu- 
cation can  bestow. 

The  intellectual  faculties  exist  oriorinally  in  all  raen ;  but  they, 
no  less  than  the  physical  and  moral,  vary  in  every  individual  in 
quality  and  degree  of  activity,  each  giving  rise  to  a  variety  in  con- 
sciousness, aptitude,  and  capacity.  Some  persons  are  endowed  with 
greater  powers  of  perception,  and  others  of  conception.  In  some, 
memory  predominates ;  in  others,  imagination  ;  and  in  others,  judg- 
ment ;  in  many,  sensation  prevails  over  reason.  One  individual  re- 
ceives clearer  ideas  from  sensations  of  sight,  another  from  those  of 
hearing,  and  so  forth,  as  the  eye,  the  ear,  or  the  other  organs  are 
naturally  more  active  or  correct.  Some  memories  retain  facts  better ; 
othei-s,  places ;  others  words ;  others,  tunes,  &c.,  according  to  the  pe- 
culiar energy  of  the  perceptive  powers  which  take  fognizance  of 
these  different  classes  of  objects.  Imagination  is  in  one  person  more 
inventive,  in  another  more  imitative;  some  are  prone  to  deductive, 
others  to  inductive  reasoning.  These  differences  among  men  are  again 
indefinitely  multiplied  by  the  reciprocal  influence  which  the  different 
orders  of  faculties  have  over  each  other.  The  predominance  of  cer- 
tain moral  faculties  modifies  the  course  of  ideas,  as  the  predominance 
of  certain  intellectual  faculties  modifies  the  affections  and  inclina- 
tions. Hence,  the  diversity  of  taste,  or  genius,  as  it  is  called,  which 
is  early  manifested  for  difi'erent  pursuits.  The  infinite  variety  of 
nature,  in  physical  complexion  and  outward  form,  is  but  the  symbol  ' 
of  that  which  marks  the  spirit  within. 

Every  intellectual  pursuit  in  early  life  ought  to  have  for  its  prin- 
cipal object  to  invigorate  the  faculties,  and  to  produce,  by  means  of 
appropriate  exercises,  the  highest  degree  of  activity  of  which  the 
mind  is  capable.  All  persons  have  not  equal  need  of  the  different 
branches  of  instniction  taught  in  schools,  and  they  may  difl'er  in 
opinion  as  to  their  degree  of  utility;  but  all  will  agree  that  habits  of 
reflection,  investigation,  and  reasoning,  are  useful  to  every  individual,  *• 
and  at  every  period  in  life.  The  literary  and  scientific  information 
collected  in  youth  is  not  unfrequently  laid  aside  in  maturity  to  make 
room  for  the  practical  business  of  active  life,  with  which  it  has  often  no 
connection ;  but  high  mental  capacity  is  never  lost,  and  is  always 
productive  of  real  benefit. 

A  method  of  instruction  which  would  exclusively  rest  on  the  ac- 
tion of  a  single  faculty,  whatever  might  be  its  apparent  success,  would 
be  most  prejudicial  to  the  intellect.  Even  imagination,  which  is  often 
checked  in  young  people,  ought  to  have  its  due  share  of  exercise  :  it 
performs  an  active  part  in  learning  and  applying  language.  All  the  p 
fine  arts,  among  which  maybe  placed  the  art  of  expressing  thought,  \ 
owe  their  best  productions  to  the  richness  and  vigor  of  that  faculty.  S 


20 

However,  if  any  be  entitled  to  more  exercise  than  others,  these  are 
attention  and  judgment — attention  above  all,  that  manifester  of  the 
will,  that  eye  of  the  mind,  without  which  the  other  faculties  would 
remain  dormant.  The  powerful  influence  which  attention  and  judg- 
ment have  in  all  the  affairs  of  life,  demand  that  they  should  act  a 
prominent  part  in  the  process  of  education.  They  are  the  guides 
which  direct  us  in  the  use  of  the  other  faculties  and  render  their  ac- 
tion efficient. 

Memory,  although  holding  also  an  important  place  relatively  to 
the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  demands  less  specific  exercise  than  the 
other  intellectual  powers,  because  the  use  of  it  is  necessarily  involved 
in  their  action.  Besides,  it  has  abundant  employment  during  the  fiist 
periods  of  y#uth,  in  storing  up  the  facts  impressed  through  the 
senses  upon  the  mind,  and  retaining  the  corresponding  native  words. 
As  it  predominates  in  childhood,  we  are  apt  to  resort  to  it  as  a  gene- 
ral instrument  of  instruction ;  but  its  exclusive  cultivation  only  tends 
to  make  learned  fools. 

This  faculty,  it  is  true,  early  manifests  itself,  but  it  never  exists 
alone  :  the  others  begin  their  action  much  sooner  than  persons  ge- 
nerally imagine.  Children  are  capable  of  attention  and  reflection  ; 
they  have  imagination  and  judgment ;  they  observe,  they  invent, 
they  reason,  as  actively  as  adults,  with  this  difference,  that  their 
sphere  of  mental  activity  is  confined  to  matters  of  comparatively 
little  importance.  Their  intellectual  constitution  differs  from  ours 
only  in  degree.  If  we  wish  to  exercise  and  improve  it,  we  must 
offer  to  their  consideration  objects  suited  to  the  weakness  of  their 
minds,  and  the  use  and  purport  of  which  they  can  understand,  and 
which  may  be  congenial  to  their  tastes  and  feelings. 

The  second  part  of  intellectual  "education — the  acquisition  of 
knowledge — embraces  all  nature.  There  exists  nothing,  from  the 
imperceptible  atom  to  the  most  sublime  object  in  creation — from  the 
simplest  phenomena  of  our  existence  to  the  impenetrable  mysteries 
in  which  the  Divinity  is  veiled — that  man  does  not  desire  to  know, 
or  does  not  make  an  object  of  serious  study. 

Such  are  the  wise  provisions  of  the  Maker  of  all  things,  that  not 
only  are  the  external  world  and  its  relations  to  our  constitution  so 
arranged  as  to  hold  forth  to  us  every  inducement  to  cultivate  our  fa- 
culties, but  the  very  acquiring  of  knowledge  is  the  most  efficient 
means  by  which  those  faculties  can  be  cultivated  and  improved.  In- 
struction is  the  natural  nourishment  of  the  mind,  and  it  is  as  necessary 
for  its  growth  as  food  is  for  that  of  the  body. 

Intellectual  acquirements  had  been  for  a  long  1:ime  the  sole  ob- 
ject of  education,  when  all  at  a  sudden  the  cultivation  of  the  facul- 
ties was,  on  account  of  its  great  importance  in  childhood,  exclusively 


21 

recommended  by  some  educationist.  Those,  however,  who  have 
meditated  most  on  the  subject,  think  the  right  course  to  He  between 
these  extremes,  and  that  the  two  departments  of  intellectual  training 
should  always  be  combined. 

The  acquisition  of  knowledge  and  the  development  of  the  men- 
tal faculties  lend  to  each  other  reciprocal  assistance;  for,  if  the  mental 
activify  which  is  employed  in  the  study  of  any  branch  of  instruction 
invigorates  the  faculties,  a  high  intellectual  development  must,  on  the 
other  hand,  considerably  facilitate  the  acquisition  of  knowledge.  It 
is  by  devoting  an  equal  attention  to  these  two  points  that  the  end  of 
intellectual  education  will  be  gained,  and  that  we  shall  secure  to  our 
children  inexhaustible  sources  of  enjoyment,  means  of  success  in  their 
respective  professions,  the  power  of  being  useful  to  others,  and  an 
honorable  place  in  society. 

In  order  to  facilitate  the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  it  has  been 
classified  according  to  the  faculties  on  which  its  different  branches 
more  particularly  depend. 

The  branches  of  information  which  chiefly  call  for  the  exercise  of 
memory,  consist  in  the  simple  record  of  the  things  and  facts  which 
attention  and  perception  bring  under  the  cognizance  of  the  mind. 
The  study  of  them  is  only  an  act  of  the  memory  which  collects  truths ; 
hence  they  may  be  classed  under  the  name  of  Histories. 

Those  which  depend  on  reasoning,  are  acquired  by  starting  from 
known  things  and  facts  with  a  view  to  arrive,  by  a  series  of  inductive 
or  deductive  arguments  at  such  as  are  unknown  :  the  object  of  any 
train  of  reasoning  is  the  elucidation  of  known  truths,  or  the  discovery 
of  those  which  are  unknown.  When  the  truths  which  we  investi- 
gate are  universal,  immutable,  and  linked  in  a  chain  of  ratiocination, 
they  constitute  what  is  called  a  Science.  It  is  the  purport  of  science 
to  lay  down  general  principles. 

The  application  of  the  truths  retained  by  memory  or  discovered 
by  reasoning,  to  the  practical  uses  of  life,  whether  for  gratification 
or  well  being,  constitutes  a  third  series  of  information,  which  takes 
the  name  of  Art.  An  art  is  therefore  the  practical  realization  of 
thought — the  application  of  general  principles  to  particular  facts. 
This  n:^me  is  also  given  to  a  collection  of  fixed  and  general  rules, 
which  serve  to  guide  us  in  that  application. 

This  third  class  of  acquirements  demands  the  action  of  the  phy- 
sical organs  for  their  execution,  whilst  the  principles  on  which  they  rest 
are  within  the  sphere  of  the  intellectual  powers.  The  knowledge  of 
these  principles  is  of  great  assistance  to  carry  the  arts  to  their  highest 
degree  of  perfection.  He  who  practises  an  art  without  the  knowledge 
of  the  principles  on  which  it  is  founded,  will  never  be  any  thing  but 


22 

a  simple  mechanic ;  be  cannot  pass  the  narrow  limits  of  routine,  or 
surmount  difficulties  as  they  present  themselves. 

The  arts  which  imagination  creates  by  imitation  and  analogy  con- 
tribute to  the  luxury  and  enjoyment  of  intellectual  life ;  they  exalt 
the  mind  by  extending  its  sphere  of  action  above  common  nature : 
such  is  the  object  of  the  fine  arts.  * 

The  arts  are  said  to  be  liberal  when  the  action  of  the  moral  and 
mental  faculties  predominates  in  their  execution,  and  mechanical 
when  they  chiefly  depend  on  the  physical  faculties,  or  when  the 
habit  of  execution  in  them  dispenses  with  the  action  of  the  reasoning 
power. 

Memory,  reasoning,  and  imagination  are  then  respectively  exer- 
cised on  three  classes  of  knowledge,  History^  Sciences  and  the  Arts  ; 
for,  although  all  the  mental  powei-s  take  a  share  in  the  study  of 
every  branch  of  knowledge,  yet  each  of  these  three  faculties  predomi- 
nates in  the  class  which  we  have  assigned  to  it. 

History,  Science,  and  Art  again  are  classified  each  into  their  de- 
partments, according  as  they  relate  to  nature^  to  man^  or  to  language. 
These  three  departments  embrace  all  the  information  which  may 
become  an  object  of  human  consideration. 

The  various  branches  of  knowledge  included  in  the  above  classi- 
fication are  very  numerous,  and  have  latterly  been  so  multiplied  that 
it  is  impossible  for  a  single  individual  to  embrace  them  all ;  some 
sciences  have  even  been  carried  so  far  that  it  almost  requires  the  ex- 
clusive exertion  of  a  long  life  to  reach  their  utmost  extent.  The  pe- 
riod of  education  being,  moreover,  for  the  great  majority  of  young 
persons,  restricted  within  narrow  limits,  it  becomes  indispensable,  in 
a  rational  system  of  public  instruction,  to  confine  the  objects  of  study 
to  such  branches  of  knowledge  as  best  discipline  the  intellect  and  at 
the  same  time  are  of  practical  utility  through  life.  The  information 
most  required  by  individuals  varies  indefinitely  with  their  diversified 
pursuits  in  social  life ;  but  that  which  offers  the  best  prospect  of 
being  useful  in  all  situations,  and  which  should  have  the  precedence 
over  the  others  is,  we  think,  an  acquaintance  with  the  laws  of  nature. 
True  knowledge  is,  in  fact,  nothing  but  the  interpretation  of  nature. 
In  nature  may  be  found  all  the  elements  of  our  ideas,  all  the  princi- 
ples of  our  senses,  all  the  models  of  our  arts,  and  endless  sources  of 
moral  and  religious  sentiments. 

The  physical  sciences,  which  have  for  their  object  the  investiga- 
tion of  the  natural  laws,  are  suitable  to  the  different  periods  of  youth, 
and  are  useful  to  all  classes  of  people ;  they  exercise  the  perceptive 
powers,  enrich  the  memory  with  facts  and  words,  excite  and  gratify 
imagination  to  the  highest  degree,  prompt  to  investigation,  and 
inspire  a  taste  for  learning,     Although  they  are  not,  perhaps,  the 


23 

best  calculated  for  making  profound  reasoners,  they  do  not  material- 
ize instruction,  as  affirmed  by  some  persons ;  they  on  they  contrary 
cultivate  effectively  the  moral  and  the  intellectual  faculties.  No  lit- 
erary composition  engages  the  moral  feelings  and  religious  sense 
more  vividly  than  the  grandeur  and  perfection  of  the  material 
world ;  none  exercises  the  judgment  more  usefully  than  the  applica- 
tion of  analysis  and  induction  to  the  phenomena  of  nature. 

The  lower  animals,  under  the  influence  of  instinct,  blindly  follow 
the  course  which  unerring  wisdom  has  marked  out  for  them  ;  man 
alone  has  the  discretionary  power  of  conforming  to  the  laws  of  na- 
ture or  transgressing  them,  according  as  he  is,  or  is  not  acquainted 
with  them  :  in  resisting  them,  he  abuses  his  intelligence  and  liberty, 
and  these  valuable  gifts  become  fatal  to  him  ;  in  obeying  them,  he, 
on  the  contrary,  is  enabled  to  avoid  almost  all  the  ills  of  life.  A  know- 
ledge of  nature  is,  therefore,  indispensable  in  order  to  enable  him  to 
act  consistently  with  his  destination. 

The  intimate  relations  which  exist  between  external  nature  and 
the  human  constitution,  render  the  latter  an  indispensable  subject  of 
study  in  connection  with  the  former.  Man  should  know  his  own 
organization,  physical,  moral,  and  intellectual,  to  be  able  to  under- 
stand what  are  his  duties  to  God,  to  society,  and  himself,  because  he 
is  framed  in  perfect  adaptation  to  these  duties.  This  comprehensive 
study  of  man  which,  under  the  name  of  philosophy,  embraces  his 
relations  with  the  universe,  and  all  investigations  respecting  primary 
and  final  causes,  would  make  us  better  acquainted  with  the  Author 
of  nature,  with  His  laws,  His  commands,  and  all  the  great  moral 
and  intellectual  truths.  Should  it  not  lead  to  this  knowledge,  it 
would  be  unworthy  of  our  meditation,  and  ought  not  to  enter  into 
the  circle  of  academic  studies. 

If  we  now  consider  knowledge  as  an  instrument  for  unfolding 
the  powers  of  the  mind,  it  must  be  admitted  that,  although  no  parti- 
cular department  of  study  possesses  the  privilege  of  exercising  them 
all,  some  are  more  than  others  conducive  to  this  object.  In  this 
respect,  literary  and  philosophical  studies  seem  to  claim  preference, 
as  the  fittest  for  effecting  an  harmonious  development  of  the  intel- 
lectual energies  most  required  in  active  life. 

Mathematics,  far  from  being,  as  commonly  believed,  the  best  logi- 
cal discipline,  would,  if  studied  exclusivelt/,  rather  tend  to  disqualify 
the  mind  for  general  reasoning.  They  confine  the  student  to  a  nar- 
rower circle  of  mental  exercises  than  languages  and  philosophy :  they 
habituate  him  to  a  routine  of  demonstration  which  presents  little  va-  . 
riety ;  they  awaken  his  judgment  to  a  relation  of  quantity,  neglect- 
ing quality  and  all  other  important  relations.  They  do  not  call 
fc»rth  the  intellectual  powers  most  useful  under  all  circumstances, 


24 

such  as  observation,  comparison,  generalization,  classification,  induc- 
tion, analogy,  which  may  all  be  brought  into  activity,  and  invigo- 
rated by  the  study  of  languages  and  philosophy. 

In  every  step  in  mathematical  demonstrations,  there  is  a  constant 
perspicuity,  a  straight  and  limited  path  marked  out,  from  which  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  wander.  But,  in  attending  to  philosophical, 
ethical,  or  literary  investigations,  the  learner  has  to  feel  his  way,  re- 
flect, compare,  judge,  apply  his  own  experience,  weigh  probabilities, 
disentangle  net-works  of  inconsistencies,  and  lay  bare  sophistical 
plausibilities.  In  this  necessity  for  a  diversified  and  complicated  ac- 
tion of  the  reasoning  powers  consists  the  chief  value  of.  literary  and 
philosophical  studies. 

The  precision  of  mathematical  expression  affords  no  example  of 
those  fallacies  which  so  frequently  arise  from  the  ambiguities 
of  ordinary  language ;  nor  does  mathematical  demonstration  allow 
room  for  sophistry  of  thought,  or  for  the  consideration  of  improbabi- 
lities ;  because  its  matter  always  enforces  the  correctness  of  its  form, 
and  the  certainty  of  its  conclusions ;  the  exact  sciences  do  not  conse- 
quently provide  means  of  detecting  and  avoiding  logical  errors. 
Hence  it  is  that  mathematicians  are  not  unfrequently  led  to  one  or 
other  of  two  opposite  extremes — credulity  or  scepticism. 

These  observations  are  corroborated  by  the  testimony  of  the  most 
competent  judges — Locke,  Condiilac,  d'Alembert,  Descartes,  Pascal, 
Destutt-Tracy,  Warburton,  Goethe,  Franklin,  Gibbon,  Dugald  Stewart, 
and  many  others,  whose  opinions  have  been  recorded  by  a  late  writer 
in  an  able  dissertation  on  the  subject.  ^ 

Those  who  have  been  exclusively  engaged  in  the  exact  sciences, 
accustomed  to  follow  a  train  of  deductive  reasoning,  and  to  draw 
conclusions  from  fixed  principles  and  from  data  passively  received, 
are  liable  to  err  from  limited  observation  and  disregard  of  undemon- 
strated  truth ;  they  require  mathematical  proofs  in  every  thing,  and 
are  apt  to  reject  moral  or  probable  evidence,  although  propriety  of 
conduct  and  justness  of  opinion,  in  most  of  the  affairs  of  life,  chiefly 
rest  on  such  evidence.  "  Nothing,"  says  Madame  de  Stael,  '*  is  less 
applicable  to  the  business  of  life  than  a  mathematical  argument."  ^ 
But,  in  the  study  of  languages,  the  understanding  is  engaged  as  in  the 
world ;  we  find  in  both  the  same  deahng  with  words  and  ideas,  the 
same  caution  and  discrimination  between  rules  and  exceptions,  the 
same  mixed  relations  and  contending  principles,  the  same  exercises 
of  conception,  imitation,  and  invention  :  finally,  the  same  methods  of 
induction,  analogy,  and  analysis. 

'  Edinburgh  Review,  No.  CXXVI. 
'  De  VAUe-magne,  t.  i.»  ch.  18. 


25 

But,  when  we  thus  assign  a  greater  value  to  literary  studies  than 
to  those  of  mathematics,  it  must  be  well  observed  that  this  is  only 
considering  them  exclusively  as  instruments  of  mental  training ;  for 
no  one  can  deny  the  usefulness  of  the  exact  sciences  as  elements  of 
professional  instruction,  or  dispute  the  expediency  of  leaving  them  as 
co-ordinate  to  find  their  level  among  the  other  branches  of  a  liberal 
education.  Not  only  are  they  the  groundwork  of  mechanics,  as- 
tronomy, optics,  navigation,  surveying,  and  other  sciences,  but,  al- 
though restricted  in  their  mode  of  argumentation,  they  tend  to  com- 
plete the  cultivation  of  the  reasoning  powers,  by  the  synthetical  and 
exact  process  through  which  conclusions  are  deducted  fi*om  their 
principles.  They  add  to  man's  power  as  a  thinker,  and,  hence,  as  a 
speaker  and  a  writer.  Besides,  the  more  divei-sified  the  ideas  which 
the  mind  acquires,  and  concerning  which  it  reasons,  the  more  ex- 
panded will  be  its  capabilities.  "  No  education,"  says  Dr.  Whewell, 
can  be  considered  as  liberal  which  does  not  cultivate  both  the  fa- 
culty of  reason  and  the  faculty  of  language,  one  of  which  is  culti- 
vated by  the  study  of  mathematics,  and  the  other  by  the  study  of 
the  classics.  To  allow  the  student  to  omit  one  of  these  is  to  leave 
him  half  educated."  ^ 

Must,  then,  every  one  indiscriminately  be  instructed  in  all  the 
above  branches  and  in  so  many  others  which  form  now  part  of  a 
liberal  education,  is  a  question  which  here  naturally  presents  itself. 
Leaving  aside  Utopian  views,  which  have  never  yet  been  realized, 
and  taking  the  world  as  it  is,  we  are  obliged  to  answer  in  the  ne- 
gative; for  although  all  physical,  moral,  and  intellectual  qualities 
which  constitute  the  perfection  of  human  nature  are  desirable  in 
every  individual,  whatever  be  his  position  in  life,  it  must  neverthe- 
less be  granted  that  certain  oflSces,  professions  and  pursuits  require 
for  their  successful  fulfilment  the  predominance  of  particular  qualities 
and  special  branches  of  knowledge.  Now  if  we  take  a  survey  of  the 
difierent  classes  of  persons  claiming  education  from  the  State,  we 
shall  find  that  there  are  three  classes  whose  positions  in  society  and 
vocations  in  life,  are  so  distinct  that  they  cannot  possibly  reach  perfec- 
tion by  the  same  kind  of  training.  There  are,  in  the  first  place, 
those  who  are  destined  with  material  means  to  work  on  matter — 
laborers  and  artisans.  Then  there  is  a  large  class  of  men  whose 
destiny  it  is  to  work  on  the  same  external  world,  but  by  intellectual 
means ;  thus  a  mason  works  on  stone  and  lime  with  his  hands,  an 
architect  with  his  mind.  Lastly,  there  is  a  class  of  persons  in  society 
whose  high  privilege  it  is  to  work  by  mind  upon  mind^to  this  class 
statesmen,  clergymen,  teachers  of  youth,  hterary  and  scientific  men 

*  The  Principles  of  English  University  Education. 


26 

of  all  kinds  belong.  This  classification,  however,  it  must  be  well  ob- 
served, is  not  in  all  countries  equally  distinct :  in  some  it  is  syste- 
matic, in  others  accidental^  arising  from  political  principles  so  to- 
tally different,  that  a  system  of  national  education  which  is  the 
height  of  perfection  for  one,  may  be  utterly  unfit  for  another.  In 
Russia,  for  instance,  where  the  population  is  divided  into  several 
castes,  distinctly  separated,  and  intended  to  be  so,  each  class  is 
educated  by  itself,  and  instructed  in  such  branches  as  are  most 
likely  to  make  them  realize  their  expectations  in  life,  without 
allowing  them  to  pass  the  limit  by  which  their  place  has  been 
marked  out  on  the  scale  of  social  categories.  This  system  may 
perfectly  suit  the  existing  state  of  things  in  a  country  where 
rank  and  distinction  are»  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  social 
body,  but  it  can  never  find  its  application  amongst  us,  where  no  re- 
cognized superiority  exists  but  that  of  virtue,  knowledge,  abilities,  and 
industry.  The  same  reasons  will  aways  prevent  our  following  the 
course  adopted  in  most  German  States,  where  education  is  given  in 
separate  schools  (Volksschulen,  Mittel  or  Biirgerschulen,  and  Gymna- 
sia or  Gelehrte  Schulen)  to  correspond  to  the  three  classes  of  so- 
ciety referred  to  above.  ^  Much  less  can  we  take  model  on  England 
where  no  system  of  education  exists,  save  that  of  buying  instruc- 
tion, hke  other  commodities,  for  money,  or  receiving  it  from  charity. ' 
Wherever  education  is  controlled  by  the  State  we  will  find  it 
organized  on  the  same  plan  as  society  itself;  and  if  schools  are,  as 
we  think  they  ought  to  be,  an  introduction  to  the  world,  they  should, 
in  every  particular,  be  framed  on  the  same  principle,  to  be  at  all  a 
preparation  for  practical  life.  Thus  in  a  country  where  no  social 
distinction  is  intended,  but  only  accidentally  exists,  there  is  not  only 
no  need  of  separate  education,  but  even  it  seems  contrary  to  Free 
Institutions  not  to  have  all  educated  in  common.  Kot  that  the 
same  kind  of  knowledge  is  the  most  suited  to  all  conditions  in 
life,  nor  does  common  education  imply  that  all  should  be  con' 
fined  to  that  kind  of  learning  which  is  appropriate  to  clergymen, 
to  qualify  them  for  ploughmen,  mechanics,  engineers,  merchants, 
lawyers  or  physicians ;  it  only  requires  its  course  to  be  so  regulated 
that,  while  leading  directly  to  the  highest  branches  of  learning,  their 

*  Dr.  F.  E.  Beneke,  Erziehungs  und  Unterrichts-lehre. 

'  "  England,"  says  Horace  Mann,  "  is  the  only  one  among  the  nations 
of  Europe,  conspicuous  for  its  civilization  and  resources,  which  has  not 
and  never  has  had  any  system  for  the  education  of  its  people.  And  it  is 
the]  country  where  incomparably  beyond  any  other  the  greatest  and  most 
appalling  social  contrast  exists.  There  is  no  country  in  which  so  little  is 
eflfected,  compared  with  the  expenditure  of  means  ;  and  what  is  done  only 
tends  to  separate  the  diflferent  classes  of  society  more  and  more  widely 
from  each  other."    {Report  of  an  Educational  Tour.) 


27 

successive  acquirement  be  made  in  an  order  which  will  afford  the 
greatest  amount  of  available  knowledge  and  mental  improvement, 
at  whatever  period  the  learner  may  be  called  away  from  school  to 
enter  upon  the  active  duties  of  life.  Let  us  now  see  in  what  way 
this  result  may  be  attained. 

Youth,  as  we  have  said,  is  the  season  of  life  designed  by  Provi- 
dence for  giving  a  proper  direction  to  the  faculties,  for  training  the 
habits,  and  laying  the  foundation  of  the  physical,  moral,  and  mental 
character.  It  may  be  divided  into  four  periods,  through  which  are 
distributed  the  various  exercises  indispensable  to  a  complete  educa- 
tion.    These  four  periods  are : 

1°  From  birth  to  the  age  of  6  (Infarwy) 

2°         '*  6  to  12  years  old    I  Childhood) 

3°         "        12  "16      "       "      {Adolescence) 

4°         "        16  "  20      "       "      {Puberty)  ' 

Reflection  and  judgment  are  not,  in  the  first  period,  sufficiently 
developed  to  take  an  active  part  in  the  instruction  of  the  child.  It 
is  through  the  perceptive  and  imitative  faculties  that  he  can,  dur- 
ing that  period,  be  given  elementary  notions  of  things  and  of  lan- 
guage, these  being  inseparable.  However,  at  his  entrance  into  life 
he  should  not  so  much  be  taught  lessons,  as  be  formed  to  those 
moral  and  religious  habits  which  are  the  best  preparation  for  future 
intellectual  education.  This  preparatory  training,  or  first  degree  of 
instruction,  is  the  work  of  good  domestic  government,  or  of  infant 
schools. 

In  the  second  period,  by  means  of  moderate  and  progressive 
exercise  of  all  the  intellectual  powers,  the  child  must  be  familiarized 
with  the  external  world  and  the  phenomena  of  nature ;  he  must  be 
accustomed  to  examine  every  thing,  and  be  made  to  observe  the 
order,  wisdom,  and  infinite  goodness  which  have  presided  over  all 
the  details  of  creation  :  thus  he  will,  by  appropriate  conversations  on 
these  subjects,  gain  an  extensive  practical  knowledge  of  the  native 
tongue.  Reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  and  linear  drawing  will  then 
claim  their  share  of  attention  as  auxiliaries  in  intellectual  education, 
A  wide  range  of  elementary  instruction  may  thus  be  attained  which 
will  serve  as  a  foundation  for  future  studies.  Nature,  the  considera- 
tion of  which  is  the  chief  object  during  this  period,  is,  in  fact,  the 
source  of  all  progress  in  every  department  of  knowledge. 

*  It  must  be  well  understood  that  this  classification  is  only  approximate ; 
for  the  natural  activity  of  the  faculties  is  found  to  vary  considerably 
throughout  the  different  periods  of  youth.  It  is  not  unusual  to  see,  for 
example,  a  child  of  eight  years  more  advanced  in  physical  and  mental 
growth,  than  one  of  ten  or  even  twelve. 


28 

The  objects  of  instruction  which  constitute  the  second  degree, 
must  be  divei-sified  in  such  a  way  that  they  may  bring  into  action  all 
the  rising  powers  of  the  child  :  in  fact,  his  complete  intellectual  de- 
velopment can  be  effected  only  by  the  variety  of  objects  in  which  he 
may  be  engaged,  because  different  departments  of  instruction  exer- 
cise different  faculties  and  quaHties  of  the  mind.  "  General  instruc- 
tion, to  whatever  degree  it  is  carried,  should  precede  special  instruc- 
tion." ^  The  diversity  of  information  which  has  been  early  acquired 
gives  correctness  to  the  judgment,  and  renders  every  species  of 
knowledge  more  clear  and  precise.  He  who  has  been  exclusively 
engaged  upon  one  particular  class  of  ideas,  however  skilful  he  may 
be  in  his  command  of  them,  has  generally  an  obtuse  mind  about 
other  matters.  The  diversity  of  objects  to  tvhich  the  attention  of 
young  people  is  directed,  also  furnishes  the  means  of  disco- 
vering the  pursuits  for  which  they  have  most  inclination  or  ap- 
titude. This  varied  instruction  ought  to  be  universally  diffused 
throughout  all  classes  of  society,  because  in  a  civilized  community,  it 
is  required  by  all  people  indiscriminately.  It  constitutes  what  is 
called  primary  or  elementary  instruction. 

Arrived  at  this  period,  the  great  bulk  of  mankind  are  obliged, 
from  circumstances,  already  to  think  of  the  means  of  earning  a  liveli- 
hood. Learning,  it  is  true,  which  is  elsewhere  the  privilege  of  a 
chosen  few,  is  here  the  birthright  of  all;  still  not  all* have  equal 
chances  of  availing  themselves  of  this  right.  "  Pursuit  of  know- 
ledge under  difficulties "  is  not  yet  done  away  with,  and  to  the 
great  majority  of  young  people  these  difficulties  present  them- 
selves under  such  fearful  aspects,  that  they  either  have  not  the 
courage  to  face  them,  or  give  out  at  the  tirst  attempt.  Sometimes, 
also,  it  is  by  imitation,  or  tradition,  that  they  follow  their  father's 
trade ;  most  generally  it  is  an  opportunity  offering  itself  which 
necessity  compels  them  to  accept.  But  whatever  be  the  mo- 
tives which  prompt  them  to  believe  that  it  is  from  their  hands  they 
will  derive  the  readiest  support,  it  is  now  time  to  commence 
their  apprenticeship,  and  to  direct  more  exclusively  their  physical 
powers  towards  such  arts  or  manual  occupations  as  may  best  suit 
their  inclinations,  or  offer  the  greatest  chances  for  success,  at  the 
same  time  devoting  their  leisure  hours  to  intellectual  pursuits,  that 
they  may  also  in  this  way  improve, — perhaps  one  day  rise  to  emi- 
nence. '■' 

In  the  third  period,  the  objects  of  instruction  will  be  gradually 

*  St.  Marc-Girardin.  De  V Instruction  Intermediaire  et  de  ses  Rapports. 

'  The  institution  of  a  fund  providing  young  people,  leaving  school 
tinder  those  circumstances,  with  a  copy  of  "  Channing's  Self- Culture,'* 
would  perhaps  be  one  of  the  greatest  acts  of  philanthropy. 


29 

raised  in  cbaracter  and  limited  in  number,  with  a  view  to  prepare 
the  pupils  for  the  highest  intellectual  pursuits  and  for  the  respective 
careers  which,  according  to  their  talents,  offer  to  each  the  surest 
means  of  being  happy  and  useful.  This  third  degree  of  instruction 
should  comprise  a  critical  knowledge  of  the  national  language  and 
literature,  grammar,  rhetoric  and  logic,  ancient  and  modern  langua- 
ges, ancient  and  modern  history,  physical,  astronomical,  and  politi- 
cal geography,  drawing,  natural  history,  the  mathematical  and 
physical  sciences,  and  the  theory  of  morals.  Some  of  these  depart-| 
ments  of  knowledge  constituting  a  literary,  and  the  others  a  scien- 
tific course,  should  be  respectively  studied  more  seriously,  according 
as  children  are  preparing  for  literary  or  scientific  pursuits ;  but,  as 
these  two  objects  are  ancillary  to  each  other,  they  should  be  prose- 
cuted simultaneouslyj  each  becoming  accessory  when  the  other  is 
considered  as  principal. 

In  the  fourth  period,  that  of  professional  education,  young  per- 
sons should  complete  the  instruction  already  commenced,  which 
bears  on  their  future  vocations.  It  is  towards  the  close  of  this  period 
that  they  may  direct  their  attention  to  the  study  of  legislation,  poli- 
tical economy,  physiology,  moral  and  mental  philosophy,  and  the 
science  of  education,  which  is  useful  to  all.  They  should,  however, 
dwell  more  particularly  on  the  special  branches  of  knowledge  which 
will  enable  them  to  fulfil  honorably  and  successfully  the  duties  at- 
tached to  the  liberal  professions  which  they  propose  to  embrace,  or 
to  the  high  offices  which  may  be  confided  to  them  by  their  country 
or  their  fellow-citizens. 

The  subdivision  of  studies  should,  in  a  comprehensive  system  of 
national  education,  correspond  to'the  diversity  of  social  pursuits;  for 
it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  individuals %an  learn  every  thing.  Even 
those  who  have  leisure  and  wealth  sufficient  to  pursue  the  most  ex- 
tensive course  of  instruction  cannot  completely  master  its  various 
branches ;  and  the  depth  of  information  attained  by  individuals  in  any 
one  department  of  knowledge  is  more  profitable  to  them  and  to  the 
community  than  superficiality  in  many.  The  range  of  studies,  at 
first  unlimited,  must  therefore  be  gradually  restricted  to  a  narrow 
compass,  and,  when  once  young  men  have  taken  their  place  in  so- 
ciety, they  must  confine  their  attention  chiefly  to  the  subjects  imme- 
diately connected  with  theic  avocations.  People  can  obtain  supe- 
riority in  any  pursuit  only  insomuch  as  they  are  exclusively  engaged 
in  it.  It  is  a  chimera  to  aim  at  perfection  in  several  things  at  the 
same  time. 

The  information  and  accomplishments  which  have  been  ac- 
quired in  youth,  and  which  do  not  bear  directly  on  professional  pur- 
suits, should  be  kept  up  as  a  relaxation  and  as  a  preventive  against 


30 

the  narrowness  of  mind  which  arises  from  exclusive  studies.  A  mere 
adept  in  his  art  is  universally,  admitted  to  contribute  but  little  to  the 
intellectuality  and  enjoyment  of  social  intercourse.  It  must  not  be 
forgotten  that,  if  the  subdivision  of  studies  among  the  different  mem- 
bei*s  of  the  community,  like  the  subdivision  of  labor  in  the  arts, 
benefits  the  mass  and  serves  the  wordly  interests  of  the  individual,  it 
does  so  to  the  prejudice  of  his  general  intellectuality.  In  proportion  as 
the  sphere  of  action  of  each  individual  is  narrowed,  his  mental  powers 
become  contracted,  and  his  activity  is  rendered  purely  habitual  and 
instinctive ;  he  is  lowered  as  a  rational  being,  and  resembles  the  sub- 
ordinate part  of  some  powerful  machinery — useful  in  its  place,  out 
of  it  insignificant. 

In  closing  this  rapid  sketch,  we  cannot  forbear  regretting  that 
we  have  been  compelled  by  its  limits  to  confine  our  observations  to 
generalities  of  the  briefest  kind.  We  hope,  however,  that  the  little 
which  we  have  said  may  suffice  to  show  what  are  the  instruments 
and  what  ought  to  be  the  objects  of  education.  These  two  points 
were  closely  connected  with  our  subject,  because,  on  the  one  hand, 
an  acquaintance  with  the  instruments  or  faculties,  is  subservient  to 
the  study  of  languages,  and,  on  the  other,  we  must  know  what  are 
the  objects  which  enter  into  a  complete  course  of  education,  in  order 
to  give  to  each  its  due  share  of  attention,  and,  whatever  be  the  im- 
portance of  languages,  to  guard  against  defrauding  young  people,  by 
exclusive  attention  to  them,  of  information  more  useful  in  after  life. 
It  is  thus  prepared  that  we  approach  with  confidence  the  subject  of 
our  present  inquiry, — the  relative  importance  of  Ancient  and  Modern 
Languages,  considered  as  branches  of  Education. 


The  history  of  languages  has  established  this  remartable  fact, 
that,  in  the  course  of  time,  as  civilization  advances  among  nations, 
their  original  idioms  are  gradually  abandoned  for  others  less  inflected, 
more  simple,  and  more  elliptical,  which  serve  as  vehicles  of  commu- 
nication in  ordinary  life ;  whilst  these  original  idioms,  as  tlie  deposi-7 
tories  of  national  and  religious  traditions,  become  classical  and  sacred  j 
symbols  for  the  exclusive  use  of  the  learned,  and  especially  theV 
clergy.     The  mental  culture  which  is  promoted  by  the  act  of  learn-  / 
ing  to  understand  these  dead  languages,  and  to  use  them  for  the  ex- 
pression of  thought,  tends  also  to  make  them  the  basis  of  intellectual 
education.     This  happens  to  be  the  case  with  the  ancient  idioms  of 
the  Jews,  Copts,  Chinese,  Mongolese,  Hindoos,  Pei-sians,  and  other  ' 
Asiatic  nations,  as  well  as  with  some  of  the  ancient  European  Ian-/' 
guages,  and  more  particularly  with  the  Greek  and  Latin,  which  have  ^ 
assumed   a   very  extensive    field   of    action   in   the   education   of 
youth. 

Ethnography,  the  classification  of  nations  founded  on  a  corres- 
ponding classification  of  languages,  has  disclosed  the  existence  of 
nearly  two  thousand  languages,  and  five  thousand  dialects,  the 
greater  number  of  which  do  not  become  objects  of  study,  except  in 
rare  cases.  Of  this  prodigious  number  of  idioms  a  few  extend  over 
the  surface  of  the  globe,  and  divide,  with  Latin  and  Greek,  the  at- 
tention of  students.  Of  these  few,  ten  belong  to  Europe,  namely,  the 
English,  French,  German,  Italian,  Spanish,  Portuguese,  Dutch,  Swe- 
dish, Danish,  and  Russian ;  and  nine  to  Asia,  namely,  the  Hebrew, 
Syriac,  Arabic,  Turkish,  Armenian,  Persian,  Chinese,  Sanskrit, 
the  ancient  language  of  India,  and  Hindoostanee,  one  of  its  modem 
dialects. 

The  mode  of  acquiring  language  varies  with  the  peculiar  cir- 
cumstances of  the  learners,  and  according  as  it  is  a  native  or  a 
foreign  language.  Nature  provides  abundant  means  of  initiating  us 
into  the  former ;  art  must  supply  the  method  by  which  the  latter  is 
to  be  attained.  In  the  ordinary  circumstances  of  life  the  native 
tongue  is  acquired  by  practice  alone ;  the  foreign  through  the  native, 
and  by  comparison  with  it.  * 

The  acquisition  of  a  foreign  language  through  the  native,  pre-  I ' 
sents  many  advantages,  besides  the  habits  of  attention,  application,  j 
and  patient  toil;  which  it  forms,  in  common  with  other  intellectual    \ 

*  The  term  foreign,  as  employed  here,  in  contradistinction  to  native, 
applies  to  any  other  language,  whether  it  be  anciefU  or  modem. 


J 


82    . 

pursuits.  We  have  already  adverted  to  the  superiority  of  this  de- 
partment of  instruction  over  mathematics,  considered  as  a  means  of 
mental  training ;  of  its  heneficial  results  we  will  here  briefly  sum  up 
the  most  prominent. 

y  1.  The  Study  of  a  second  language  inures  to  mental  exertion, 
'i^'produces  distinctness  and  accuracy  in  thinking,  and  elevates  the 
■    youthful  mind  by  bringing  it  into  habitual  communion  with  the 
i    minds  of  great  writers ;  it  evolves  a  quick  apprehension,  an  acute 
(    discrimination,  a  patient  process  of  comparison  and  analogy.     It  en- 
(    riches  the  memory,  expands  the  imagination,  invigorates  the  judg- 
ment, and  refines  the  taste  in  literary  matters,  by  critical  analysis  of 
highly  finished  compositions,  {he  force  and  beauty  of  which  cannot 
be  adequately  conveyed  by  translation.     But  it  not  only  cultivates 
the  mental  powers  by  means  of  the  various  exercises  requisite  for  the 
complete  attainment  of  language,  it  also  exercises  them  in  a  manner 
perfectly  analogous  to  their  actions  in  the  ordinary  course  of  life. 

2.  This  study  enriches  the  native  vocabulary  of  the  learner,  and  ; 
i  improves  his  power  of  composition  in  the  national  tongue,  by  prac-  ^ 
I     tice  in  searching  for  native  words  and  expressions  to  translate  those 

of  the  foreign  authors ;  while  the  peculiar  excellences  of  these  authors 
illustrate  the  principles  which  render  language  clear,  forcible,  and 
beautiful. 

3.  It  turns  our  attention  to  the  formation  and  connection  of  ideas, 
to  the  nature  and  mechanism  of  language ;  and,  bj-  constant  compa- 
rison of  two  idioms,  teaches  general  and  particular  grammar.  Thus 
the  acquisition  of  one  foreign  language  facilitates  the  learning  of 
others,  both  from  similarity  of  grammatical  principles,  and  from  the 
habits  of  study  to  which  the  mind  is  trained  by  that  first  acqui- 
sition. 

4.  It  tends  to  engrave  on  the  mind  the  subjects  of  which  foreign 
authors  treat,  by  the  close  attention  required  in  translating  them, 
and  by  the  repetitions  necessary  to  impress  their  language  on  the 
memory.  Hence,  without  losing  sight  of  the  main  object,  it  brings 
under  the  consideration  of  the  learners  many  useful  branches  of  in- 
struction, and  lessons  of  morality.  It  is  the  groundwork  of  every 
species  of  human  knowledge :  the  study  of  a  science  may,  to  a 
great  extent,  be  said  to  consist  in  learning  the  true  and  full  import  of 
its  nomenclature. 

1.  The  Knowledge  of  foreign  languages  multiplies  the  sources  of 
information  and  intellectual  enjoyments,  by  opening  to  its  possessor 
new  fields  of  science  and  literature;  and,  as  it  extends  oral  and 
written  communications  between  men  of  different  countries,  it  pro- 
motes the  advancement  of  learning  and  the  progress  of  the  arts. 
K  it  were  generally  spread  among  nations,  it  would  considerably 


83 

facilitate  their  social,  commercial,  and  political  intercourse;  and 
would  thereby  tend  to  unite  them  by  the  strong  ties  of  mutual  ser- 
vices and  common  advantage. 

2.  It  extends  our  acquaintance  with  human  nature  by  exhibiting, 
as  elicited  in  their  idioms,  the  peculiarities  of  character,  customs  and 
civilization  of  men  in  different  latitudes.  It  brings  under  our  notice 
many  ideas  and  sentiments  conveyed  by  expressions  for  which  there 
are  no  equivalents  in  the  vernacular  tongue. 

3.  From  the  affinity  which  exists  between  different  dialects,  an 
acquaintance  with  foreign  idioms,  ancient  and  modern,  opens  the 
rich  fields  of  comparative  philology,  and  leads  to  the  solution  of 
historical  questions  concerning  the  origin  and  filiation  of  nations, 
a  philosophical  investigation  in  which  we  have  no  other  guide  but 
the  evidence  of  language. 

4.  Familiarity  with  foreign  literature  tends  to  destroy  national 
prejudice,  by  unfolding,  as  sanctioned  by  enlightened  communities, 
principles  of  conduct,  morality,  and  politics,  differing  from  those  we 
have  been  accustomed  to  regard  as  exclusively  correct ;  it  guards  us 
from  attributing  universally  to  human  nature  tastes,  feelings,  opin- 
ions, and  n^otives  of  action  which  belong  only  to  our  age  and  coun- 
try ;  it  brings  us  nearer  to  truth  by  the  examination,  in  different 
lights,  of  the  various  departments  of  knowledge ;  it  enlarges  our 

\  sympathies  as  it  expands  our  minds,  and  does  away  with  that  Chi- 
nese-like contempt  for  other  nations  which  is  usually  entertained  by 
those  whose  sphere  of  thought  does  not  extend  beyond  the  narrow 
limits  of  their  own  experience. 

All  languages  are  not  equally  favorable  for  effecting  these  various 
objects.     The  ancient  idioms,  for  example,  being  now  seldom  used 
as  vehicles  of  intellectual  communication,  do  not  present  so  exten- 
sive a  field  of  usefulness  as  the  modern,  which  are  both  spoken  and 
written.     Among  the  modern  languages,  also,  many  belong  to  na- 
tions whose  backwardness  in  civilization,  and  poverty  in  literature, [ 
render  them  but  feeble  auxiliaries  in  the  acquisition  of  useful  know-( 
ledge,  the  formation  of  taste,  or  the  discipline  of  the  mental  facul- ' 
ties. 

Youth,  as  we  have  already  remarked,  is  the  season  designed  by 
Providence  for  commencing  education ;  but,  as  ancient  and  modern 
languages  cannot,  consistently  with  reason  and  propriety,  be  taught.    .. 
before  our  native  tongue,  our  first  step  must  be  to  make  ourselves  M   i^ 
masters  of  the  language  of  the  country  we  live  in-     ^ 

Curiosity,   sympathy,   perception,   and    association,    imitation, 
analogy,  and  memory,  are  the  instruments  which,  with  the  aid  of 
the  language  of  action,  nature  employs  in  enabling  a  young  child  to      • 
enter  into  communion  with  hift  fellow-creatures.   These  instruments 
3* 


84 

may  also  be  applied  to  the  learning  of  a  foreign  language  in  circum- 
stances similar  to  those  in  which  the  native  tongue  is  acquired,  but 
when  the  learner  is  differently  circumstanced,  the  natural  process  not 
being  strictly  practicable,  the  comparative  must  be  had  recourse  to ; 
and  the  study  of  that  language  is,  thereby,  placed  beyond  the  reach 
of  childhood.  The  powers  of  imitation,  analogy  and  memory,  although 
very  active  during  the  whole  period  of  youth,  are,  nevertheless,  in- 
adequate for  acquiring  all  the  departments  of  our  language  through 
the  written  form  of  another.  It  is  only  when  the  learner  can  turn 
his  serious  attention  to  particular  objects  of  study,  when  he  can  com- 
mand his  powers  of  comparison,  reflection,  abstraction,  and  judgment ; 
when  he  is  able  to  perform  the  various  exercises  required  by  the 
method  or  imposed  by  his  teacher,  when  the  maturity  of  his  mind 
enables  him  to  understand  the  authors  which  may  be  put  into  his 
hands;  and  when  he  comprehends  the  native  expressions  so  com- 
pletely that  they  interpret  to  him  their  equivalents  in  the  foreign 
language;  it  is,  we  say,  only  then  he  can  learn  that  language  c 
through  his  own,  or  derive  any  benefit  from  the  periodical  lessons  of 
a  professor. 

The  learner,  in  entering  upon  his  scholastic  studies,  is,  with  regard 
to  a  second  language,  in  a  position  widely  diff'erent  from  that  of  the 
infant  who  acquires  the  native  idiom  instinctively  and  even  uncon- 
sciously.    One  language  having  already  assumed  in  his  mind  the 
exclusive  right  of  representing  ideas,  its  words  and  idioms  come  un- 
bidden, and  stand  in  the  way  of  foreign  expressions ;  he  has  need  of  -7 
firm  determination,  and  of  well-directed  mental  effort  to  carry  him  ) 
successfully  through  the  study.     It  is  erroneous  to  imagine,  as  many  | 
persons  do,  that  because  children  acquire  their  own  language  with    ) 
perfect  ease,  or  because  they  are  endowed  with  ^reat  retentive  pow- 
ers, they  have  an  aptitude  for  leaf^ing  languages,  and  that,  conse- 
quently, such  a  study  is  the  fittest  for  them.     Such  an  error  can 
only  arise  from  a  confusion  of  the  natural  or  practical  method  with 
the  artificial  and  comparative  process.     The  first,  by  which  the 
young  child  acquires  the  vernacular  tongue,  demands  scarcely  any 
mental  exertion  beyond  that  of  perception,  analogy,  association,  and 
memory ;  the  comparative,  on  the  contrary,  calls  for  the  co-opera- 
tion of  intellectual  energies  far  above  the  power  of  childhood. 

The  incomplete  knowledge  which  a  young  child  possesses  of  his 
own  language  is,  as  well  as  the  immaturity  of  his  intellect,  an  im- 
pediment to  his  understanding,  foreign  authors,  and,  consequently, 
a  cause  of  delay  and  vexation  in  the  prosecution  of  his  study.  This^ 
is  especially  the  case  in  the  study  of  the  "  classics,"  in  which  it  i» 
very  diflScult  to  make  him  render  the  profound  thoughts  and  masterly 
style  of  the  ancient  writers,  when  he  has,  as  yet,  conceived  only  the  { 


S5 

simplest  ideas,  and  has  at  his  command  only  the  most  familiar  ex- 
pressions. If  left  to  himself,  he  cannot  discriminate  between  correct 
and  incorrect  forms  of  expression  in  his  own  language,  and  he  ac- 
quires, by  his  barbarous  translations  from  the  Latin,  the  most  defec- 
tive habits  of  speaking.  An  extensive  knowledge  of  the  native  words 
and  their  various  import  is  required  to  explain  the  foreign  authors ; 
and  this  knowledge  is  gained,  not  from  the  nursery  prattle,  but  from 
a  long  intercourse  with  the  well-educated,  and  from  a  diligent  read- 
ing of  the  national  standard  writers.  The  young  learner  may,  it  is 
true,  with  the  help  of  his  dictionary,  translate  every  word  of  his 
author,  but  he  will  not  be  the  less  ignorant  of  his  meaning,  because 
a  dictionary  in  two  languages  only  gives  the  corresponding  words 
without  defining  them,  or  illustrating  their  signification;  so  that 
he  only  substitutes  one  unknown  word  for  another.  Thus,  at  an 
early  age,  many  native  words  come,  in  translation,  under  his  notice 
before  he  has  a  just  conception  of  their  precise  meaning ;  so  that 
they  precede  in  his  mind  the  ideas  which  they  represent — a  practice 
which  ought  to  be  carefully  avoided,  as  it  accustoms  him  to  take 
sound  for  sense,  and,  as  often  happens,  is  calculated  to  make  him, 
for  the  rest  of  his  life,  an  empty  talker  and  a  false  reasoner.  But, 
should  he  even  understand  every  word  he  uses,  this  exercise  is  not  the 
end  proposed  by  "classical"  instruction ;  it  is  to  desecrate  and  degrade 
the  ancient  writers,  to  subject  them  to  literal  translation,  and  make  , 
their  noblest  passages  mere  parsing  lessons.  They  claim  a  higher  oflSce : 
the  scope  of  their  works,  the  wisdom  of  their  views,  and  the  beauties 
of  their  diction,  should  be  not  only  investigated  and  appreciated,  but 
imitated  in  our  modern  idiom.  Such  tasks  are  far  beyond  the  ca- 
pacity of  chtldhood.  Adults  alone  can  study  with  profit  those  master- 
pieces of  poetry,  oratory,  history,  philosophy,  and  politics. 

Children  who  commence  Latin  early,  are  not  unfrequently  put 
into  Sallust  or  Virgil  at  twelve  or  thirteen,  and  into  Horace  or  Livy 
at  thirteen  or  fourteen :  how  can  they,  at  those  ages,  comprehend 
and  relish  works  which,  to  be  properly  understood,  demand  all  the 
mental  vigor  of  manhood  and  a  previous  acquaintance  with  ancient 
history,  geography,  and  mythology  ?  How  can  they  render  thoughts 
which,  to  be  adequately  interpreted,  demand  a  highly  improved  lan- 
guage and  powers  of  expression  which  very  few  persons  possess  ?  It 
is  impossible  that  they  could  conceive,  even  with  the  assistance  of 
their  teachers,  the  elevation  of  sentiment,  the  gi*andeur  of  thoughts,  - 
the  boldness  of  imagery,  and  the  grace  of  expression  with  which 
they  are  replete.  How  can  they  derive  profit  or  pleasure  from  the 
readings  of  Horace  or  Virgil,  or  even  from  modern  compositions, 
such  as  those  of  Racine  or  Voltaire,  Dante  or  Petrarch,  Goethe  or 
Schiller,  when  their  ears  are  not  yet  attuned  to  the  harmony  and 


S6 

rhythm  of  verse,  when  they  have  neither  felt  in  themselves,  nor 
witnessed  in  others  the  passions  of  the  human  heart,  which  these 
authoi-s  delineate  ?  What  interest  can  young  children  take  in  highly 
imaginative  compositions  in  foreign  languages,  when  they  are  quite 
incapable  of  comprehending  works  of  the  same  standing  in  their 
own  ?  Are  the  works  of  Milton  and  Shakspeare  fit  for  American 
children  ?  To  impose  such  reading  upon  them  is,  indeed,  to  give 
them  the  habit  of  being  satisfied  with  words  without  ideas  ! 

The  important  lessons  to  be  learned  and  the  intellectual  enjoy- 
ments to  be  derived  from  ancient  literature,  are  lost  to  the  mature 
man  by  the  childish  conceptions  which  he  associated  with  the  "  clas- 
sics" at  school,  and  by  the  unpleasant  recollection  of  all  the  misery 
attendant  on  the  study.     "  The  flowers  of  classic  genius  with  which 
the  teacher's  solitary  fancy  is  most  gratified,"  says  Walter  Scott, 
"have  been  rendered  degraded  in  his  imagination  by  their  connec- 
tion with  tears,  with  errors,  and  with  punishments ;  so  the  Eclogues 
of  Virgil  and  Odes  of  Horace  are  each  inseparably  allied  in  associa- 
tion with  the  sullen  figure  and  monotonous  recitation  of  some  blubber- 
ing schoolboy/"     Such  are  the  pernicious  consequences  of  a  pre-      / 
mature  study  of  the  "  classics,"  that  Byron,  whose  mind  was  so  well     / 
fitted  to  enjoy  the  beauties  of  Horace,  had  he  read  it  at  the  proper     j 
time,  complains  in  poetical  and  bitter  strains  of  the  unconquerable     | 
dislike  with  which  the  scholastic  system  inspired  him  for  this  poet."      j 
Similar  observations  we  find  in  Lamartine's  Pilgrimage  to  the  Holy      1 
Land.     "  Each  wave,"  he  says,  "brings  me  nearer  to  Greece.     I 
touch  its  soil;  its  appearance  affects  me  profoundly, — much  less, 
however,  than  it  could  have  done,  if  all  these  recollections  were  not 
accompanied  by  the  consciousness  that  instruction  wa^  forced  on 
me  to  satiety  and  disgust  before  I  could  comprehend  it.     Greece  is 
to  me  like  a  book  of  which  the  beauties   are  tarnished,  because  I 

was  compelled  to  read  it  before  I  could  understand  it. 1  prefer 

a  tree,  a  spring  under  the  rock,  an  oleander  on  the  banks  of  a  river, 
or  the  fallen  arch  of  a  bridge  covered  with  convolvulus,  to  the  mo- 
numents of  one  of  these  classic  kingdoms,  which  recall  nothing  to 
my  mind  but  the  ennui  they  gave  me  in  my  childhood."  Certainly, 
if  men  of  poetic  genius,  like  Scott,  Byron,  and  Lamartine,  have  re- 
corded their  inability  in  after  life  to  divest  the  ancient  classics  of 
the  associations  of  ennui,  satiety,  and  disgust,  caused  by  their  pre- 
mature study,  it  cannot  reasonably  be  hoped  that  boys  of  mere  or- 
dinary capacity  will  be  more  successful.  This  is  one  reason  why 
the  study  of  the  "  classics"  should  be  deferred  to  an  age  when  it  is; . 
possible  for  students  to  read  them  with  intelligence  and  sympathy/  i 

»  OldMortalUy.    Pref.  •  Childe  Harold. 


37 

and  when  a  greater  maturity  of  mind  has  enabled  them  to  appre- 
ciate their  excellence/ 

Now  if  we  consider  the  resources  of  modern  languages,  we  will 
perceive  that  their  study  can  be  commenced  at  a  much  earlier  age;1 
for  their  acquisitions,  greatly  depending  on  practice  and  familiar  in-  j 
tercourse  with  those  who  speak  them,  suits  childhood  much  better;> 
than  the  exclusive  apphcation  to  books  indispensable  in  the  study  of> 
the  ancient  languages.     But,  were  even  the  study  pursued  alto- 
gether through  the  medium  of  books,  modern  languages  could  still 
be  acquired  at  an  earlier  period  than  the  ancient ;  for  they  abound 
in  juvenile  works,  which,  in  point  of  style  and  information,  may  be 
adapted  to  every  stage  of  early  life,  and  thus  afford  young  people  the 
means  of  pursuing  their  studies  with  pleasure  and  benefit  in  vari- 
ous branches  of  instruction.     Ancient  literature,  on  the  contrary,  is 
destitute  of  such  compositions.     The  works  commonly  called  the 
"Latin  Classics"  were  all  composed  by  men,  and  mainly  intended 
for  adults  of  their  own  sex.    In  the  literature  of  ancient  Rome,  that  ) 
is  now  extant,  there  is  nothing  which  was  written  expressly  for  the 
young:    its  volumes  are  far  above  the  comprehension  and  tastes 
of  children,  and    seldom  contain   information   suitable   to   them ; 
they  treat  of  events  so  remote,  and  allude  to  customs  so  different 
from  those  with  which  we  are  acquainted,  that  they  cannot  be  fully 
understood,  nor  can  they  afford  much  to  interest  young  minds. 

Again,  much  more  thorough  proficiency  is  both  attainable  and  de- 
sirable in  the  modern  than  in  the  ancient  languages,  though  many 
people  act  as  if  the  reverse  was  the  fact.  While  the  test  of  know- 
ledge of  the  modern  languages  is  much  more  frequent  and  severe 
than  it  can  possibly  be  in  Greek  or  Latin,  we  have  often  far  too  low 
an  estimate  of  what  constitutes  a  real  acquaintance  with  them.  It 
is  not  enough  to  be  able  to  read  ordinary  books  with  tolerable 
facility  and  a  vague  notion  of  their  meaning,  or  to  carry  on 
fragmentary  conversations  about  the  weather  or  the  dishes  at  a 
dinner-table.  Fluency  both  in  writing  and  speaking  on  subjects  ^ 
grave  and  various;  a  full  appreciation  of  the  genius  and  idio- 
syncrasy of  the  language,  as  well  as  accuracy  in  its  details ;  an 
extensive  knowledge  of  its  literature ;  a  feeling  of  being  at  home  in 
it,  if  we  may  so  speak — are  acquirements  which,  while  they  richly 

*  "  If  the  dead  have  any  co^izance  of  posthumous  fame,  one  would 
think  it  must  abate  somewhat  of  the  pleasure  with  which  Virgil  and  Ovid 
regard  their  earthly  immortality,  when  they  see  to  what  base  purposes 
their  productions  are  applied.  That  their  verses  should  be  administered  to 
boys  m  regular  doses,  as  lessons  or  impositions,  and  some  dim  conception 
of  their  meaning  whipped  into  the  tail  when  it  has  failed  to  penetrate  the 
head,  cannot  be  just  the  sort  of  homage  to  their  geniua  which  they  anti- 
cipated, or  degired."     Southky,— TA«  Doctor. 


88 

repay  the  labor  that  they  cost,  are  unattainable  except  by  long  years 
of  study  and  continuous  practice.  The  spasmodic  efforts  of  a  few 
months,  under  strong  pressure,  may  do  much;  but  it  is  by  steady, 
moderate  exertion,  year  after  year,  that  we  best  become  familiar 
with  a  living  language.  In  this  way  only,  without  any  painful  sense 
of  drudgery,  it  grows  gradually  upon  us,  and  becomes  part  of  our 
mental  being.^ 

Languages,  learned  for  the  purpose  of  social  intercourse  and  the 
practical  business  of  life  must  evidently  be  more  thoroughly  and  ex- 
tensively known  than  those  which  are  only  to  be  read.  With  know- 
ledge of  a  modern  language  equivalent  to  that  which  constitutes  an 
accomplished  Latinist  of  the  present  age,  one  would  be  considered  as 
knowing  it  but  very  imperfectly.  The  good  Latinity  of  the  classical 
scholar  passes  current  only  because  the  true  standards  of  excellence — 
the  orators  and  writers  of  Rome — cannot  come  forward  to  show  the 
fallacy ;  whereas  the  literary  men  of  modern  nations  place  in  a  ma- 
nifest inferiority  their  foreign  contemporaries  who  speak  and  write 
their  languages.  A  well-educated  person,  knowing  his  native  idiom 
considerably  better  than  the  best  classical  scholar  could  know  a  dead 
language,  has  it  in  his  power  to  convey  more  extensive  and  more 
certain  information  in  it,  than  could  be  obtained  in  Latin  from  any 
modern  Latinist.  He  may,  if  allowed  sufficient  time,  carry  his  pu- 
pils to  the  higher  departments  of  oral  and  written  composition  in  his 
native  tongue — objects  utterly  unattainable,  at  the  present  day,  in 
the  ancient  languages. 

"I  do  not  think,"  says  Dr.  Jerrard,  "that  general  literature 
would  sensibly  suffer,  if  every  Greek  and  Latin  composition  that  has 
ever  issued  from  the  public  schools  and  universities  were  thrown  into 
the  fire.  What  should  we  think  of  English  poems  written  by 
Frenchmen  or  Germans  (particularly  if  their  knowledge  of  English 
were  wholly  derived  from  books),  with  half  the  sentiments  and 

^  The  modern  languages  which  hold  the  first  rank  at  the  present  day 
embrace  a  larger  collection  of  terms  and  idioms  than  are  to  be  found  in  the 
ancient.  The  Latin  language,  as  transmitted  to  us  in  the  "  classics  "  con- 
tains about  25,000  words ;  French  and  Italian  a  little  over  50,000.  English 
possesses  a  more  copious  vocabulary  than  either  from  the  proneness  of  those 
who  speak  it  to  boiTow  words  from  other  idioms,  particularly  from  the 
French,  and  from  the  facility  which  it  affords  of  forming  compound  ex- 
pressions. As  regards  this  latter  source  of  copiousness,  the  German  lan- 
guage even  surpasses  the  English  ;  for  its  nomenclature  may  be  almost 
indelinitely  increased  by  additions  to  its  radical  words.  Webster's  Dic- 
tionary contains  70,000 ;  the  Imperial  Lexicon,  80,000.  In  these  numbers 
are  not  included  the  different  modifications  of  variable  words,  the  de 
signations  of  places,  or  other  geographical  denominations,  nor  the  names 
of  all  animals  and  plants.  Of  the  latter  alone,  the  French  naturalist,  De- 
candolle,  has  reckoned  above  80,000. 


39 

phrases  vilely  borrowed  from  Milton  and  Shakespeare,  and  the  re- 
mainder consisting  chiefly  of  palpable  imitations  of  their  turns  of 
thought  or  expresssion  ?  Surely  we  should  have  to  reverse  all  our 
ideas  of  literary  excellence,  before  we  could  admire  such  tissues  of 
plagiarisms  as  these  would  be,  not  to  mention  how  quaint,  how  ludi- 
crous many  of  the  turns  on  which  the  authors  most  piqued  them- 
selves, would  appear  to  us.  Such,  I  cannot  help  thinking,  is  the 
general  character  of  the  compositions  in  question."  * 

But,  even  admitting  that  Latin  could,  at  the  present  day,  be 
written  with  perfect  case  and  purity,  we  do  not  see  how  it  can  be 
rendered  available  to  any  of  the  various  professions  in  modern  so- 
ciety. Certainly  he  who  should  now  write  in  a  dead  language 
would  have  little  chance  of  being  read  and  less  of  gaining  celebrity 
by  his  "  classical "  labors.  The  Latin  compositions  of  Milton,  Addi- 
son, and  Cowley  have  added  little  to  their  fame ;  the  Latin  poems  of 
Petrarch  are  now  scarcely  known,  although  he  esteemed  them  above 
his  Italian  sonnets  and  canzones.  If  Dante  had,  as  he  at  first  in- 
tended, written  his  "  Divine  Comedy  "  in  Latin,  Italy  would  not  boast 
of  him  at  this  day ;  and  his  name  would  have  been  long  buried  in 
oblivion.  The  same  fate  would  have  befallen  Ariosto's  poem,  if,  fol- 
lowing Bembo's  advice,  he  had  written  it  in  Latin.  Who  now  reads 
Sannazaro,  Vida,  Politian,  Bembo,  Muretus,  Ruggles,  the  Scotch  Bu- 
chanan, and  other  modern  Latin  authors?  The  genius  of  the  great 
writers  of  a  nation  is  a  positive  element  of  its  power  and  greatness ; 
but  those  who  write  in  a  dead  language,  whatever  be  the  excellence|^ 
of  their  performances,  add  nothing  to  the  glory  of  their  country.        i 

But,  say  the  advocates  of  "  classical "  education,  the  object  is  no  ' 
longer  writing  Latin,  no  more  than  speaking  it,  the  practice  being 
now  generally  abandoned.  It  is  the  arduous  process  of  its  acquisition 
which  is  to  show  the  results ;  and  it  has  been  lately  asserted  that, 
even  if  "classical"  studies  go  no  further,  and. the  whole  be  forgotten 
of  what  has  so  laboriously  been  acquired,  this  alone  would  be  an 
adequate  preparation — not  for  the  duties  of  life,  but  for  the  train- 
ing of  mind  and  heart  which  is  to  form  the  future  man,  and  to  fit 
for  those  various  duties.  But  to  argue  thus  is  to  endanger  even  a 
good  cause  by  provoking  hostility  to  its  more  legitimate  claims.  Re- 
serving ourselves,  therefore,  the  expression  of  a  more  exalted  opinion 
of  the  rich  uses  to  which  a  knowledge  of  the  ancient  languages  may 
be  turned,  we  will  here  first  examine  into  the  arguments  generally 
brought  forward  in  favor  of  subjecting  all,  indiscriminately,  to  a  coui*se 
of  "  classical "  discipline,  and  see  whether  the  results  be  really  of  a 
nature  to  compensate  the  great  body  of  our  youth  for  the  immense 

*  Evidence  before  a  Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons. 


40 

amount  of  time  and  labor  spent  in  the  acquisition  of  what  so  few  care 
to  retain. 

In  the  first  place  it  is  advanced  that  our  modern  intellectual  cul- 
ture is  historically  so  intimately  connected  with  antiquity,  that 
beyond  the  claims  of  mere  necessity,  at  least  one  of  the  ancient  lan- 
guages ought  to  be  admitted.  But  the  answer  to  this  is  evident ;  our 
intellectual  culture  in  modern  times  has  made  itself  gradually  more 
and  more  free  from  the  influence  of  ancient  literature,  in  such  a  man- 
ner that  it  is  now  able  to  stand  on  its  own  merits  and  in  a  posi- 
tion altogether  independent.  Those,  indeed,  whose  position  in  the 
social  system  calls  upon  them  to  know  and  to  teach  not  only  what 
the  world  now  is  and  ought  to  be,  but  also  how  it  came  to  be,  what 
it  is,  and  through  what  strange  mutations  and  metamorphoses  it  has 
passed,  may,  nay  must,  go  back  to  the  original  germs  and  far-off 
drawn  beginnings  of  things  :  but  for  such  as  mean  only  to  work  on 
the  prepared  foundations  of  modern  society,  and  whose  activity  is  prin- 
cipally directed  to  the  external  relations  of  Hfe,  such  laborious  pilgri- 
mages into  the  remote  past  are  neither  necessary  nor  expedient.  It 
is  to  be  particularly  observed,  also,  that  the  ancients,  however  high 
they  stand  in  literature  and  philosophy,  are  in  those  branches  of 
science  which  are  most  useful  at  the  present  day  particularly  defec- 
tive ;  in  mathematics  and  natural  history  and  physics  we  can  learn 
little  from  the  ancients  that  will  repay  the  trouble  of  studying  them ; 
and  the  Httle  that  may  be  learned,  is  to  be  learned  by  him  only 
who  can  give  his  whole  time  to  the  study  of  antiquity, — not  cer- 
tainly by  a  merchant,  an  agriculturist,  or  an  engineer. 

As  for  what  is  commonly  said  that  the  Latin  is  the  root  of  most  mo- 
dern languages,  and  must,  therefore,  be  studied,  if  not  for  its  own  sake, 
at  least  for  the  sake  of  these,  there  is  a  practical  fallacy  in  this  too 
obvious  to  demand  any  labored  refutation.  The  time  spent  in  the 
Latin  preparation  for  learning  the  modern  languages,  might  have 
been  as  well  spent  in  learning  the  languages  themselves.  How  few, 
indeed,  of  those  who  commencing  with  Latin,  bring  it  ever  so  far 
as  to  obtain  a  tolerable  mastery  of  a  modern  language.  And  what 
should  we  say  of  the  man  who,  when  building  a  house,  first  throws 
away  all  his  money  on  a  magnificent  threshold,  and  then  finds  that 
he  has  been  laboriously  constructing  an  entry  to  nothing  ?  Such, 
however,  is  the  wisdom  of  many  of  those  who  learn  Latin  that  they 
may  with  the  greater  ease  learn  French,  Spanish,  and  Italian.  But 
to  look  into  the  matter  more  closely.  A  large  portion  of  the  English 
is  derived  to  us  from  Latin,  while  a  larger  portion  comes  from  the 
Teutonic,  principally  the  Anglo-Saxon,  as  it  is  called.  Leaving  out 
of  view  this  latter  portion,  with  which  Latin  is  not  concerned,  by  far 
the  greater  part  of  the  former  comes  to  us  through  the  French.   Now 


41 

it  seems  even  more  natural,  as  we  must  of  necessity  begin  with  the 
English,  to  trace  back  our  words  through  French  to  Latin,  than  to 
leap  over  French,  returning  to  it  only  after  wo  have  learned  Latin. 
It  is  true  that  Latin  well  prepares  the  way  for  the  study  of  French, 
which  is,  in  common  with  the  Italian,  Spanish  and  Portuguese,  the 
more  immediate  descendant  of  the  Latin  ;  but  it  is  equally  true  that 
a  knowledge  of  French,  or  of  any  of  the  cognate  tongues,  greatly 
facilitates  the  acquisition  of  Latin ;  and  we  cannot  think  that  the  his- 
torical order  of  precedence  is  sufficient  to  outweigh  the  many  solid 
reasons  for  placing  the  modern  languages  before  the  ancient  in  the 
order  of  study. 

Benjamin  Franklin,  who  had  only  one  year's  instruction  in  Latin, 
when  very  young,  acknowledges  that  he  afterward  neglected  that 
language  entirely ;  but  having,  in  manhood,  gained  an  acquaintance 
with  French,  Italian,  and  Spanish,  he  was  surprised,  he  says,  to  find, 
on  looking  over  a  Latin  Testament,  that  he  understood  it  better  than 
he  had  imagined.  H'^  adds,  "  I  would  offer  to  the  consideration  of 
those  who  superintend  the  education  of  our  youth,  whether,  since  many 
of  those  who  begin  with  the  Latin  quit  the  same  after  spending 
some  years  without  having  made  any  great  proficiency,  and  what 
they  have  learned  becomes  almost  useless,  so  that  their  time  has 
been  lost,  it  would  not  have  been  better  to  have  begun  with  the 
French, '  proceeding  to  the  Italian  and  Latin.  For  though,  after 
spending  the  same  time,  they  should  quit  the  study  of  languages, 
and  never  arrive  at  the  Latin,  thoy  would,  however,  have  acquired 
another  tongue  or  two,  that,  being  in  modem  use,  might  be  service- 
able to  them  in  common  life."  ^ 

That  a  knowledge  of  the  Latin  is  necessary  for  the  acquisition  of 
English  is  an  argument  that  can  scarcely  be  advanced  seriously ;  for 
not  only  is  the  difierence  of  construction  an  obstacle  to  the  one  being 
made  the  standard  of  the  other,  but  the  Latin  derivatives  which  the 
English  language  contains,  are  in  comparison  with  those  of  Saxon 
origin,  in  a  decided  minority,  and  even  these  come,  as  we  have  seen, 
for  the  greater  part  through  the  French.  The  absence  of  analogy 
between  the  Latin  and  the  English  is  particularly  remarkable  in  the 
fundamental  principles  of  their  grammars.  The  predominating  char- 
acter of  the  English  language,  both  in  its  grammatical  and  idioma- 
tical  structure,  is  essentially  of  Saxon  origin.  Its  inflexions  have 
generally  the  same  source ;  the  English  genitive,  the  mode  of  form- 
ing the  plural  nouns,  the  terminations  by  which  are  expressed  the 
comparative  and  superlative  of  adjectives ;  the  inflexions  of  pronouns, 
of  the  second  and  third  persons,  of  the  preterites  and  participles  of 

*  Autobiography.    Edited  by  Sparks.    Ch.  vn. 


42 

verbs ;  and  the  most  frequent  terminations  of  the  adverbs,  are  all 
Anglo-Saxon.  The  manner  of  expressing  the  mood  and  tenses  of 
verbs,  the  auxiliary  words  used  for  that  purpose,  and  the  words  which 
most  frequently  occur,  articles,  pronouns,  adverbs,  prepositions,  and 
conjunctions^  are  almost  entirely  Saxon.  It  is  in  this  ancient  dialect 
of  the  great  Teutonic  family,  and  not  in  the  Latin,  that  the  history 
and  genius  of  the  English  language  are  to  be  studied. 

We  must  equally  object  to  the  assertion  that  the  learning  of  the 
Latin  grammar  ensures  to  the  "  classical "  student  a  knowledge  of 
his  national  grammar.  When  two  languages  differ  much  in  their 
genius,  the  grammar  of  the  one  cannot  teach  the  grammar  of  the  /    i 

other.     "  Those  who  say  that  the  Latin  grammar  teaches  English,  1    C 

knowing  both  grammars,  know  that  they  are  saying  what  is  not  ] 
true."  ^     It  could  not,  for  example,  inform  us  what  article  to  use  in  I 
English  and  when  to  use  it,  what  preposition  is  required  after  the  ^ 
verb,  and  what  mood   after  a  conjunction.     The  definitions  alone  of 
grammatical  technicalities  bear  a  general  resemblance  in  all  langua- 
ges, and  may,  then,  be  tested  by  reference  to  Latin  or  any  other 
grammar;    but  it  is  obvious  that  these  definitions  can  be  more 
clearly  illustrated  and  better  understood  in  the  language  of  the 
learners  than  in  one  of  which  they  are  ignorant.    Hence  it  is  that  the 
study  of  the  national  grammar  is  a  greater  assistance  to  the  acquisi- 
tion of  Latin,  that  that  of  the  Latin  grammar  is  to  the  improvement 
of  the  national  tongue. 

In  favor  of  the  contrary  opinion,  it  is  frequently  said,  that  Latin 
is  more  strictly  grammatical  than  modern  languages,  and  conse- 
quently well  calculated  to  initiate  a  young  person  into  their  princi- 
ples. This  hackneyed  assertion,  which  might  have  passed  current 
before  the  existence  of  modern  grammar,  is  far  from  being  satisfac- 
tory, as  one  of  very  doubtful  meaning,  if  it  have  any  at  all.  If  it 
signifies  that  Latin  adheres  more  closely  to  grammatical  rules,  it  is 
unfounded ;  for,  in  this  respect,  all  languages  are  on  a  par  with  it, 
which  have  a  recognized  system  based  on  fixed  usage.  With  regard 
to  exceptions  from  general  rules  and  to  idiomatic  forms  of  expres- 
sion, they  are  to  be  found  in  Latin  as  well  as  in  modern  languages  : 
Terence  and  Plautus  afford  many  examples  of  such  irregularities, 
but,  were  Latin  perfectly  regular  in  its  grammatical  construction,  we 
do  not  see  how  its  regularity  could  facilitate  the  acquisition  of  irre- 
gular idioms.  If,  by  that  assertion,  it  is  meant  that  Latin  is  more 
in  accordance  with  the  logical  principles  of  general  grammar  than 
other  languages — that  is  to  say,  that  the  relations  which  its  words 
bear  to  each  other  are  more  analogous  to  the  relations  between  their 

*  Westminster  Review,  Vol.  IV.     Present  Systernof  Education. 


43 

corresponding  ideas,  we  deny  the  proposition ;  for  the  system  of 
adjuncts  or  auxiliary  words  and  of  juxtaposition,  which  prevails  in 
many  modern  idioms,  seems  more  conformable  to  reason  and  to  the 
nature  of  the  things  represented  than  the  system  of  inflection  and 
transposition  which  characterizes  the  ancient  languages.  The  transpo- 
sitive  collocation  of  Latin  is  the  order,  or  rather  the  disorder  sug- 
gested by  sensation  and  imagination ;  the  synthetical  structure  which," 
in  English,  and  more  particularly  in  French,  proceeds  from  subject 
to  predicate,  is  the  order  of  judgment  and  logic. 

Knowledge  of  any  native  tongue  may  be  carried  to  a  high  de- 
gree of  excellence  independently  of  Latin  and  Greek.  Byron  was  a 
mediocre  "  classical "  scholar ;  he  attended  the  course  of  studies  at 
Harrow  school  with  dislike  and  carelessness.  He  acquired  his  aston- 
ishing copiousness,  flexibility,  and  beauty  of  expression,  by  extensive 
miscellaneous  English  reading.  *  Madame  de  Stael  and  many  other 
celebrated  female  writers  reached  the  highest  walks  of  literature 
without  previous  study  of  Latin.  Eichardson  and  Robert  Burns, 
Rousseau,  and  Vauvenargues,  Bernardin  de  St.  Pierre,  and  B^ranger, 
learned  neither  Latin  nor  Greek.  Shakespeare  is  generally  supposed 
to  have  been  ignorant  of  a  foreign  idiom,  although  some  persons 
believe  he  understood  a  little  Latin ;  but  to  that  little,  if  it  be  so, 
it  is  obvious  he  owed  not  his  mastery  of  English.  No -one  will 
deny  that  the  Greek  writers  and  orators  were  skilled  in  their  own 
language,  and  yet  they  learned  no  other  in  their  youth. 

It  is  often  said,  however,  that  the  thorough  grammatical  "  drill- 
ing "  in  Latin  and  Greek  to  which  a  boy  is  subjected  in  the  early 
yeara  of  his  school-course — the  parsing  of  words,  the  analysis  of  the 
construction  of  sentences,  the  comparison  of  idioms  and  methods  of 
expression — form  an  unequalled  mental  training,  and  that  not  merely 
as  a  preparation  for  the  more  advanced  study  of  the  "  classic  "  authors, 
but  wholly  apart  from  any  subsequent  practical  application.  Doubt- 
less, a  time  comes  when  language  must  be  looked  at  as  an  outward 
thing,  be  made  the  subject  of  actual  study,  be  examined  and  taken 
to  pieces,  and  its  structure  explained  and  traced  to  its  principles. 
We  also  admit  that  this  study  cannot  be  carried  on  eflSciently  without 
a  second,  or  even  a  third  language  with  which  the  mother- tongue,  so 
unconsciously  learned,  may  be  compared,  and  whereby  it  may  be  illus- 
trated. But  then  we  would  ask. — 1st.  Is  not  an  equal  thorough 
" drilling"  possible  in  French,  German,  Spanish,  or  Italian  ?  2d.  Iff 
possible,  would  it  not  be  productive  of  equally  good  results?  To) 
these  questions  we  have  never  seen  or  heard  any  negative  reply; 
which  was  not  opposed  alike  to  reason  and  to  fact,  so  far  as  expe- 

♦  Thomas  Moore,  Life  of  Byron. 


44 

rience  has  been  attainable  in  tbis  matter.  We  do  not  hesitate  to 
affirm  that,  in  so  far  as  thorough  "  drilling  "  in  all  the  departments 
tend  to  sharpen  the  faculties,  to  fix  the  attention,  to  strengthen  the 
memory,  or  to  produce  any  other  intellectual  advantage,  the  result 
would  follow  equally,  in  equally  able  hands,  whether  the  subject- 
language  be  French  or  Latin,  Greek  or  German :  except,  however, 
where  the  ancient  text  is  obscure,  in  which  case  the  advantage  is  evi- 
dently with  the  modern, — for  the  best  scholars  must  confess  that 
there  are  many  passages  in  ancient  writers  which  they  neither  do,  nor 
ever  can,  comprehend ;  and,  in  such  passages  the  language  fails  as 
an  instrument  of  mental  culture.  And  so  it  is  with  all  other  advan- 
tages brought  forward  in  evidence  of  the  utility  of  "  classic  "  studies  : 
"The  allusions  to  manners,  customs,  laws  ;  institutions,  civil,  military 
and  religious;  geographical  allusions;  the  fitting  of  the  several  parts 
into  a  whole,  and  connecting  the  several  links  in  the  chain  of  ideas, 
whether  the  work  under  examination  be  that  of  an  orator,  a  poet,  or 
a  historian ;  the  comparison  of  parallel  passages  either  from  the  same 
writer  or  from  other  writers  of  the  same  or  of  different  age,  country,  or 
language;  written  exercises,  abstracts,  and  translations ;  excursions  into 
the  field  of  general  criticism,"  '  etc.,  etc.  All  this  is  within  the  means, 
nay  the  duty,  of  every  teacher,  be  the  language  of  his  text-book  an- 
cient or  modern.  A  teacher  who  deserves  the  name  must  be  able  to 
turn  his  knowledge  many  ways,  throw  it  on  the  instant  into  very 
various  shapes,  continue  and  illustrate  and  enforce  it  with  all  but 
endless  diversity  of  association.  Such  a  teacher  will  not  confine 
himself  to  the  language  which  is  his  main  subject,  ancient  or  mo- 
dern ;  but  suiting  his  lessons  to  the  stage  of  his  pupil's  progress,  and 
to  the  time  at  his  disposal,  will  point  attention  to  the  facts  of  other 
languages,  and  by  these  illustrate  his  teaching  in  the  way  whether  of 
difference  or  of  resemblance.  It  is  natural  that  men  who  have  de- 
voted their  lives  to  the  study  and  the  teaching  of  one  subject,  and 
who  have  long  been  accustomed  to  view  all  things  in  relation  to  it, 
should  have  acquired  great  facility  and  dexterity  in  associating  with 
it  all  sorts  of  knowledge.  But  they  err — and  the  error  is  honorable 
to  their  modesty — in  ascribing  to  the  subject  much  that  is  really  due 
to  themselves.  Given  an  Arnold  or  a  Pestalozzi  (the  magnitude  of  the 
postulate  does  not  affect  the  conditions  of  the  question),  it  is  of 
quite  secondary  importance  what  language  they  make  the  basis  of 
their  teaching.  Whether  it  be  Greek  or  German,  French  or  Latin, 
Spanish  or  Italian,  such  men  will  not  fail  to  edify  and  delight  their  pu- 
pils with  the  same  clearness  in  explaining,  the  same  skill  in  combin- 
ing and  grouping,  the  same  felicity  in  illustration. 

*  J.  PiLLANS.    The  Rationale  of  School  Discipline. 


45^ 

But,  "  modern  languages,"  it  has  been  said,  are  too  like  our  own 
in  their  characteristic  features  to  call  forth  and  exercise  the  faculties  in 
the  same  way ;  while  the  fact  that  the  classical  languages  are  now 
unchangeable,  that  they  contain  enough  for  the  purpose,  and  not 
too  much,  point  them  out  as  most  suitable  for  thus  disciplining  and 
strengthening  the  mind  of  our  youth."  ^  We  readily  admit  that,  in 
the  comparative  study  of  languages,  the  more  unlike  (within  Hmite) 
those  other  languages  are  to  the  mother-tongue,  the  greater  is  the 
advantage.  But  this  single  consideration  of  unlikeness  is  clearly  not 
sufficient  to  determine  the  choice  of  a  language  for  comparison  or 
contrast.  No  one  has  yet  suggested  the  study  of  Chinese,  as  an  ad- 
mirable means  of  mental  discipline  for  the  young.  Other  consi- 
derations then,  come  into  view  in  deciding  the  selection;  some 
already  have  been  spoken  of,  others  will  be  mentioned  as  we  proceed ; 
and  without  arguing  as  to  the  exact  comparative  degree  of  likeness 
or  unlikeness,  we  content  ourselves  with  affirming  that  French  and 
German  are  so  far  unlike  English  and  each  other  as  to  furnish  abundant 
matter  of  comparative  illustration,while  they  possess  innumerable  points 
of  difference  on  which  to  fasten  useful  and  miscellaneous  philological 
disquisitions.  The  assertion  that  "  the  classical  languages  contain 
enough  for  the  purpose,  and  not  too  much,"  is  one  with  which  we  con- 
fess our  inability  to  grapple.  What  is  the  precise  limit  between  enough 
and  too  much  ?  How  is  it  proved  or  proveable  that  "  the  classical 
languages  "  contain  just  enough,  while  the  modern  languages  con- 
tain, too  much  ?  And  if  it  be  not  meant  that  the  modern  languages 
contain  too  much,  what  is  it  to  the  question  between  them  and  the 
ancient,  that  the  latter  contain  just  enough  ?  But  the  argument  of 
unchangeableness  is  so  common  a  fallacy  that  it  merits  a  brief  no- 
tice. It  is  a  mere  truism  to  affirm  that  the  "  classic "  tongues  are 
now,  that  is,  henceforward,  unchangeable,  while  the  modern  tongues 
are  liable  to  future  change  ;  but  changes  which  have  not  yet  occurred 
are  clearly  no  more  to  us  than  changes  which  never  can  occur.  A 
language  at  any  given  point  of  its  history  is  just  as  much  fixed  as 
the  "classic"  tongues  are  now,  that  is,  as  they  were  when  they 
ceased  to  be  spoken.  Our  own  language,  for  example,  is  to  us  at 
this  moment  something  equally  fixed,  whether  it  shall  be  exactly  the 
same,  or  widely  dift'erent  a  century  hence.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
*  classic  "  tongues  no  more  than  any  modern  language,  are  free  from 

*  Rev.  Joseph  Angus.  '•  Four  Lectures  on  the  Advantages  of  a  Classical 
Education,  as  an  Auxiliary  to  a  Commercial  Education."  Unhappily  he  has 
failed  to  convince  the  very  practical  Mr.  Gilbart,  who,  in  his  book  on 
Banking,  says :  "  Do  not  choose  a  clerk  because  he  has  studied  for  one  of 
the  learned  professions,  for  that  is  no  advantage." 


46 

the  changes  which  time  has  wrought  in  every  thing  hnman.  Is 
there  no  change  in  the  Latin  tongue  perceptible  in  Tacitus  or  Juve- 
nal as  compared  with  Ennius  and  Plautus  ?  Is  the  difference  much 
less  than  that  between  Chaucer  and  Cowper  ?  If  there  be  still  a 
classic  standard  of  good  Latinity  among  scholars,  so  that  they  can  at 
once  distinguish  an  archaism  or  a  neologism,  is  there  not  a  similar 
standard  of  good  "classic"  English,  or  French,  or  German,  at  any 
point  of  those  nations'  progress,  for  example,  at  this  day  ?  If  it  be 
said  that  the  travels  of  at  least  the  young  pupil  are  confined  within 
the  middle-zone  of  "  classic  "  or  Augustan  Latin,  and  that  he  has  little 
concern  with  the  barbarisms  of  an  earlier,  or  the  corruptions  of  a 
later,  age ;  so  it  is  precisely  with  every  modern  tongue,  especially  at 
school.  We  read  Goldsmith,  not  Gower ;  Fenelon,  not  even  Mon- 
taigne; Schiller's  "Lay  of  the  Bell,"  not  the  "Lay  of  the  Neibelun- 
gen."  Besides,  there  are  other  changes  than  those  which  time  in- 
troduces. Place,  also,  has  its  influence,  combined  with  time,  or 
apart ;  and  when  we  think  of  Greek  with  its  JEolic,  Doric,  Ionic,  and 
Attic  dialects,  all  of  which,  and  especially  the  latter  two,  require  the 
careful  attention  of  even  the  youthful  scholar,  we  can  scarcely  escape 
the  conclusion  that  unchangeableness,  in  any  practical  sense,  is  not 
one  of  the  recommendations  of  the  "classic"  tongues. 

Nor  can  we  allow  any  weight  to  the  argument,  founded  on  the 
number  of  men  eminent  in  every  walk  of  public  life,  who  have  been 
subjected  to  the  "  classical"  system  of  instruction.  If  the  great  body 
of  the  youth  of  a  country  be  subjected  to  any  system  whatever,  not 
thoroughly  mischievous,  it  is  inevitable  that  a  portion  of  the  youth 
will  distinguish  themselves ;  but,  surely,  it  is  neither  fair  nor  logical 
to  attribute  to  the  system  the  splendid  success  of  the  rare  exceptions, 
and  to  pass  over  in  silence  the  dull  obscurity  of  the  mass.  Under 
every  system,  in  spite  of  every  system,  without  any  system,  have 
great  men  asserted  their  greatness ;  and  it  would  be  easy,  especially 
in  this  country,  to  get  up  against  all  schools  a  case  founded  on  the 
number  of  highly  eminent  men  who  have  received  no — what  is 
called — teaching  at  all.  But,  even  if  the  habits  of  attention  and 
application  now  displayed  were  fostered  by  devotion  to  "  classical" 
studies,  it  may  be  still  inquired  whether  those  same  habits  might 
not  have  been  as  well  or  better  fostered  under  some  other  system, — 
better  fitted,  at  the  same  time  to  convey  knowledge  available  in  the 
actual  business  of  life.  Let  us  look  at  West  Point,  for  instance ; 
there  no  Latin  is  taught;  still  its  graduates  are  marked  men, 
wherever  they  go.  The  question,  then,  is  not,  is  the  old  system 
productive  of,  or  rather  perhaps,  compatible  with,  a  certain  amount 
of  good  ;  but  is  it  the  best  system  that  can  be  adopted  in  this  nine- 
teenth century  for  the  mental  development  of  the  community  at 


large  ?  Is  it  in  liarmony  with  the  wants  and  with  the  lights  of  the 
age  ?  The  fact  of  its  having  taken  rise  at  a  time  when  the  state  of 
knowledge  was  so  widely  different ;  before  the  creation  of  our  mo- 
dern literature — home  or  foreign  ;  before  the  vast  discoveries  of 
modern  science ;  before  the  extensive  division  of  human  pursuit  to 
which  these  have  led ;  before  men  had  our  better  insight  into  the 
nature  and  operations  of  the  mind  itself;^  all  this  \b  prima  facie  a 
strong  argument  against  it, — an  argument  too  strong  to  be  rebutted 
by  the  enumeration  of  a  few  hundred  names  whose  greatness  the 
system  has  cherished,  or,  it  may  be,  failed  to  crush. 

But,  it  is  said,  "  education  consists  of  two  parts — instruction 
and  training  ;  it  being  the  office  of  the  former  to  impart  knowledge, 
and  of  the  latter  to  impart  mental  discipline.  It  is  only  the 
latter  that  in  strictness  deserves  the  name  of  education  ;  and  while 
all  other  subjects — a  slight  exception'being  made  in  favor  of  mathe- 
matics— belong  to  the  instructional  division,  it  is  the  classical  course 
alone  which  ranks  as  educational.  Both  may,  doubtless,  be  car- 
ried on  side  by  side ;  but  still,  a  decided  predominance  must 
be  awarded  to  the  latter."  It  seems  to  us  that  this  is  a  mischievous 
perversion  of  a  distinction  which,  in  itself,  has  been  long  and  uni- 
versally admitted  to  be  just.     In  ihe  first  place,  as  we  have  seen  on 

*  "The  present  universities  of  Europe  were  orig-inally,  the  greater  part 
of  them,  ecclesiastical  corporations  instituted  for  the  education  of  church- 
men      What  was  taught  in  those  universities  was  suitable  to  the 

end  of  their  institution,  either  theology  or  something  that  was  merely  pre- 
paratory ta»theology. 

'*  When  Christianity  was  first  established  by  law,  a  corrupted  Latin 
had  become  the  common  language  of  all  the  western  parts  of  Europe.  The 
service  of  the  church,  accordingly,  and  the  translation  of  the  Bible,  which 
was  read  in  churches,  were  both  in  that  corrupted  Latin ;  that  is,  in  the 
common  language  of  the  country.  After  the  irruption  of  the  barbarous 
nations  who  overturned  the  Roman  Empire,  Latin  gradually  ceased  to  be 
the  language  of  any  part  of  Europe.  But  the  reverence  of  the  people  na- 
turally preserves  the  established  forms  and  ceremonies  of  religion,  long 
after  the  circumstances  which  first  introduced  them,  and  rendered  them 
reasonable,  are  no  more.  Though  Latin,  therefore,  was  no  longer  under- 
stood anywhere  by  the  great  body  of  the  people,  the  whole  service  of  the 
church  still  continued  to  be  performed  in  that  language.  Two  different 
languages  were  thus  established  in  Europe,  in  the  same  manner  as  in  an- 
cient Egypt ;  a  language  of  the  priests,  and  a  language  of  the  people ;  a 
sacred  and  a  profane ;  a  learned  and  an  unlearned  language.  But  it  was 
necessary  that  the  priests  should  understand  something  of  that  sacred  and 
learned  language  in  which  they  were  to  officiate  ;  and  the  study  of  the 
Latin  language,  therefore,  made  from  the  beginning  an  essential  part  of 

university  education Universities  are  the  sanctuaries  in  which 

exploded  systems  and  absolute  prejudices  found  shelter  and  protection, 
after  they  had  been  hunted  out  of  every  comer  of  the  globe." 

Adam  Smith,  "  Wealth  of  Nations:' 


48 

a  former  page,  it  is  a  theoretical  distinction,  and  one  which  regards 
the  ends  and  the  method  much  more  than  the  means  of  education. 
A  subject  may  be  studied  either  for  its  practical  uses,  or  as  a  disci- 
pline ;  but  every  subject  or  set  of  subjects  brings,  in  one  or  other 
direction,  in  greater  or  less  degree,  its  advantage  as  an  exercise  of 
mind.  Is  the  study  of  arithmetic,  for  example,  when  properly  taught, 
less  a  mental  exercise  in  its  peculiar  way,  because  its  lessons  are  of 
practical  service  in  daily  life  ?  Is  utility  sufficient  to  exclude  a  sub- 
ject from  the  category  of  educational  influences?  This  were  an 
error  akin  to  that  of  ancient  political  and  economic  writers  who 
made  productive  industry  the  doom  of  the  slave,  idleness  the  honor- 
able badge  of  a  freeman.  But  in  the  second  place, — granting  that 
subjects  differ  greatly  in  the  degree,  as  well  as  in  the  kind  of  their 
educational  influence,  that  that  subject  is  entitled  to  the  highest 
place  which  exercises  in  the  best  way  the  greatest  number  of  our 
mental  powers,  and  that  neither  physical  science  nor  mathematics 
can  claim  to  take  the  lead,  from  want  of  power,  equally  to  develope 
and  harmoniously  to  combine  the  majority  of  our  faculties  of  mind, 
while  yet  some  one  subject  must  predominate, — we  most  strenuously 
contend  that  it  is  not  to  the  "t;lassics,"  that  is  to  the  language  of  Greece 
and  Rome,  but  to  language  and  literature  at  large  that  this  predom- 
inance is  justly  due.  A  part  has  been  too  long  allowed  to  usurp 
the  rank  and  the  honor  due  only  to  the  whole.  In  the  infancy  of 
modern  literature,  all  literature  was  represented,  and  nobly  too,  by 
the  ancient  classics ;  the  one  was  co-extensive,  nay  identical  with  the 
other ;  but  now  the  position  is  widely  changed ;  the  relative  pro- 
portions of  the  ancient  and  the  modern  literature  are  precisely  re- 
versed ;  still  the  ancient  asserts  its  old  prerogative ;  it  would  "  lay 
its  ineffectual  finger  on  the  spoke  of  time ;"  it  refuses  to  believe  that 
the  child  has  grown  into  a  man.  In  the  mean  time  the  native  tongue  * 
is  neglected,  the  fellow-tongues  of  Europe  are  but  superficially  taught,  ^^ 
and  at  odds  and  ends  of  time.  Far  be  it  from  us  to  divorce  the  new 
from  the  old ;  we  would  give  to  each  a  place,  gladly  acknowledging 
that  each  is  beautiful  in  its  season.  To  exclude  either,  is  to  condemn 
the  higher  study  of  literature  to  partiality  and  incompleteness;  still, 
each  must  take  place  according  to  its  relative  importance,  that  being 
determined  by  the  widest  comparison  of  things,  not  as  they  were 
three,  four,  or  even  one  hundred  years  ago,  but  as  they  are  now.  If 
comparison  must  be  instituted,  we  maintain  that  there  is  no  advan- 
tage, intellectual^  moral  or  cesthetic,  that  the  study  of  the  ancient  lan- 
guages can  confer,  which  may  not  to  an  almost,  if  not  strictly  equal 
degree,  be  derived  from  the  study  of  the  modern,  while  the  modern 
yield  peculiar  advantages  to  which  the  ancient  can  make  no 
claim. 


49 

It  is  true,  the  Greeks  and  Romans  were  our  first  masters ;  they 
opened  to  us  the  road  to  knowledge ;  but  the  progress  which  we 
have  since  made  has  left  them  far  behind  us  in  almost  every  thing 
which  can  contribute  to  the  improvement  of  society  and  the  com- 
forts of  life.  The  works  which  they  have  transmitted  to  us  have  no 
direct  bearing  on  the  studies  and  duties  of  our  generation.  Their 
languages  contain  but  little  of  practical  application  and  general  in- 
terest at  the  present  day  :  whereas  those  of  modern  nations  are  the 
depositories  of  a  large  amount  of  information,  and  of  such  informa- 
tion as  is  suitable  to  modern  society  and  indispensable  for  its  various 
pursuits.  The  usefulness  of  living  languages  will  daily  increase 
with  the  advance  of  science  and  the  progress  of  discovery :  the 
exchange  of  thought,  of  which  they  are  the  international  me- 
dium for  social,  industrial,  and  scientific  purposes,  will  henceforth 
be  an  inexhaustible  source  of  public  prosperity  and  advancement  in 
civilization. 

The  facts  which  the  ancient  historians  record  are  less  useful  to 
us  than  those  of  modern  history,  because  the  truths  deducible  from 
them  are  less  applicable  in  our  times.  The  information  communi- 
cated by  the  classics  is  also  often  inconsistent  with  our  notions  of 
civilization,  morality,  or  religion.  By  devoting  the  first  period  of 
life  exclusively  to  them,  young  people  are  led  astray  in  forming  their 
standard  of  propriety  on  these  points, — so  different  from  ours  were 
the  private  and  public  life  of  the  ancients,  their  manufactures  and 
commerce,  their  arts  and  sciences,  their  social  state,  political  institu- 
tions, and  rehgious  worship.  At  the  same  time  that  the  study  of 
the  poets,  orators,  and  philosophei-s  of  Greece  and  Rome  is  generally 
admitted  to  possess  a  principle  of  intellectual  development,  it  is  un- 
deniable that  the  Pagan  sentiments  and  immoral  tendencies  of  some 
of  their  writings  render  them  often  most  dangerous  to  inexperienced 
youth.  The  selfishness  of  the  Romans,  and  their  unqualified  hatred 
for  other  nations,  may  be  mistaken  for  love  of  countiy  ;  their  aggres- 
sive wars  and  rapine,  for  true  glory ;  and  thereby  tend  to  elicit  in 
favor  of  injustice  and  cruelty  the  praise  and  admiration  due  to  pa- 
triotism and  virtue. 

"  The  custom  of  teaching  children  to  regard  with  the  highest 
admiration  the  literature  and  history  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans, 
stained  with  outrages  on  all  the  superior  faculties  of  man,  and  of 
diverting  their  minds  away  from  the  study  of  the  Creator  and  his 
works,  has  had  a  most  pernicious  efiect  on  the  views  entertained  of 
this  world  by  many  excellent  and  intellectual  individuals.  This  is 
truly  preferring  the  achievements  of  barbarous  men  to  the  glorioui 
designs  of  God  ;  and  we  need  not  be  surprised  that  no  satisfaction 
8 


60 

to  the  moral  sentiments  is  experienced  while  such  a  course  of  edu- 
cation is  proposed."  ^ 

From  among  the  numerous  wiitings  showing  the  evil  tendency 
of  an  exclusive  and  incautious  study  of  "  classical "  literature,  we  ex- 
tract the  following  as  deserving  especial  notice. 

"  The  advocates  of  these  languages  always  avoid  the  true  view 
of  this  question  ;  they  urge  the  absolute  merits  of  classical  literature, — 
which,  though  not  to  the  extent,  is  cheerfully  admitted, — but  never 
consider  what  it  excludes.  I  have  readily  conceded  its  value  as  an 
elegant  accomplishment,  excepting  always  where  it  is  tainted  with 
a  vicious  grossness,  and  an  absurd  and  most  anti-christian  mytho- 
logy. I  grant,  for  I  have  enjoyed,  the  taste,  the  polish,  the  genius, 
the  poetry,  and  the  oratory  of  the  classics  ;  but  I  cannot  shut  my 
eyes  to  the  gloomy  fact  that  not  above  one  in  a  hundred,  whose 
years  are  wasted  in  Latin  and  Greek,  reap  those  advantages,  or  make 
even  an  approximation  to  them  ;  that  in  after-life,  ninety-nine  in  a 
hundred,  lose  the  languages,  and  all  their  taste,  poetry,  and  oratory, 

in  one  general  oblivion Morality  is  placed  upon  a  false 

basis  of  selfishness  by  the  ancient  classics ;  while  religion  is  so  utterly 
opposed  to  their  whole  character,  that  to  find  them  approved  and 
even  taught  by  Christian  ministers,  can  only  be  accounted  for  by 
the  habit  of  not  inquiring  into  long  established  customs.  The  talent, 
health  and  life  wasted  on  classical  studies  at  college,  under  the  selfish 
stimulus  of  college  honors,  has  been  often  deplored ;  but  the  moral 
consequences  are  yet  worse ;  there  is  a  familiarity  with  selfishness 
and  injustice,  to  v/hich  is  given  the  name  of  patriotism,  a  disposition 
to  think  lightly  of  war,  and  an  appetite  for  martial  glory,  arising 
jfrom  the  lessons  and  intercourse  of  our  public  schools,  which  have 
[a  very  injurious  eftect  upon  society ;  so  much  is  not  forgotten  by  the 
otherwise  oblivious  pupil.  A  diflferent  standard  of  morals  and  rule 
/of  right  is,  without  inquiry  by  teachers,  applied  to  the  ancients  and 
to  the  moderns,  so  that  sensuality,  selfishness,  injustice,  rapacity, 
cruelty,  and  crime,  are  not  only  excused  to  the  former,  but  pressed 
upon  the  opening  faculties  of  youth  as  the  constituents  of  moral 
gi'andeur  and  practical  virtue.  All  this  recoils  dreadfully  upon  so- 
ciety. Christianity  itself  is  overborne  by  a  spurious  morality,  and 
society  continues  selfish,  sensual  and  belligerent. 

"  Eloquence  is  a  wide  term  ;  it  contains  a  great  deal  more  in  it 
than  is  generally  supposed.  For  the  application  of  language  to  the 
purpose  of  strict  logical  reasoning,  splendid  imagery,  and  fine  poetrj^ 
as  infused  in  eloquence,  I  should  say  you  could  not  go  to  better 
models  than  the  orators  of  antiquity.     But,  when  we  examine  what 

*  Geo.  Combe,  Constitution  of  Man. 


m 

are  the  sentiments  that  are  conveyed  even  by  their  most  splendid 
orations,  we  find  that  these  are  almost  all  of  a  selfish  kind,  that  they 
tend  to  flatter  and  encourage  national  pride,  and  the  other  feelings 
of  a  mistaken  patriotism,  to  exclude  the  bulk  of  mankind  from  equal 
privileges  with  a  privileged  few,  and  to  foster  feelings  of  enmity 
against  all  other  nations  but  their  own,  with  a  very  small  sprinkHng 
indeed  of  any  thing  that  we  should  call  high-toned  sentiment.  I 
should,  therefore,  rather  look  to  the  orations  of  Chatham,  of  Burke, 
of  Wilberforce,  of  Canning,  and  of  more  recent  living  oratoi-s,  who 
deal  with  justice  and  mercy,  which  the  ancients  knew  not,  with 
higher  interests  and  juster  views  of  human  nature  and  human  so- 
ciety, and  who  look  abroad  upon  their  fellow-creatures  with  an  eye 
of  benevolence.  When  I  look  to  their  orations,  I  find  in  them  a 
much  more  lofty,  a  much  more  genuine,  a  much  more  heart-im- 
proving eloquence  than  I  have  ever  met  with  in  the  more  classical, 
but  less  exaltedly  moral  efi'usions  of  Cicero  and  Demosthenes.  This 
is  felt  by  those  who  have  listened  to  such  preachers  as  Chalmers  of 
Scotland  and  Channing  of  America,  whose  eloquence  overpowers 
the  feehngs  to  a  degree  which  the  orations  of  ancient  orators  could 
not  possibly  eflect."  * 

To  what  we  have  said  of  the  intellectual  advantages  alleged  to  fol- 
low from  the  usual  course  of  "  classical"  instruction,  we  have  nothing 
to  add.  We  also  may  limit  ourselves  to  the  above  remarks  concern- 
ing the  moral  aspect  of  the  question.  Not  that  we  deem  it  of  light  im- 
portance, but  the  subject  is  too  extensive  for  full  discussion  here,  and 
we  have  no  wish  to  echo  any  louder  the  outcry  which  has  been  so 
generally  raised  against  "  classics  "  on  this  ground.  Suflice  it  to  say, 
that  whatever  lessons  of  virtue  and  of  nobleness  an  earnest  and  dis- 
cerning teacher  may  draw  from  the  precepts  of  ancient  literature,  or 
from  the  examples  of  ancient  history, — and  they  are  not  few, — not 
even  equality  to  the  modern  in  this  respect  can  possibly  be  claimed. 
Were  it  otherwise,  Christianity  would  indeed  have  done  little  for  the 
world.  On  the  other  hand,  while  the  moral  harvest  of  antiquity  is 
scantier,  and  too  often  of  a  coarser  grain,  the  tares  are  more  abun- 
dant. A  stricter  selection  and  a  care  more  anxious  are,  therefore, 
needful;  for  the  mental  torpor,  which  is  a  sevenfold  shield  against 
good,  is  a  poor  protection  against  evil ;  and  what  teacher  who  cares 
for  the  heart  and  the  soul,  as  well  as  the  head  of  his  pupils,  has  not 
been  dismayed  to  mark  with  how  prompt  avidity  precocious  vice 
seizes  on  what  is  congenial  to  itself  1 

Having  thus  partially  cleared  the  ground,  we  ore  prepared  to 
enter  on  the  closer  consideration  of  the  question  before  us.  The 
gi'eat  subject  of  inquiry,  be  it  ever  clearly  remembered,  is  not  how 

'James  Simpson.   Evidence  befort  a  Committee  oftfu  Hauee  of  Commons. 


52 

far  our  modern  literature  and  mental  progress  are  indebted  to  the 
ancient  classics — a  question  of  purely  historical  interest ;  nor  even 
whether  the  system  of  "  classical "  instruction  now  prevailing  do  or 
do  not  produce  some  good  results  by  the  mental  discipline  to  which 
it  subjects  the  young,  if  not  by  the  actual  knowledge  which  it  con- 
veys— a  question  which  needs  not  to  be  disputed  ;  but  whether, 
regarding  the  state  of  present  knowledge  and  the  character  of  the 
times  in  which  we  live,  it  be  necessary  or  desirable  that  "  classical " 
studies  should  absorb  so  large  a  portion  of  the  school-years  of  all 
our  youth.  On  this  subject,  the  conclusions  to  which  our  reflection 
and  expeiience  have  led  us,  are — 1st,  that  the  "  classics"  are  taught 
at  far  too  early  a  period  of  life,  and  that  hence  arise  at  once  the  ne- 
cessity and  the  unproductiveness  of  so  vast  an  expenditure  of  time  and 
toil — 2d,  that  they  are  taught  too  indiscriminately  to  all,  without  re- 
ference to  the  future  avocations  of  the  learners.  These  convictions  have 
been  forced  upon  us  by  our  respect  alike  for  the  other  branches  of  in- 
struction which  "  classics  "  have  hitherto  much  excluded,  and  for  the 
"classics"  themselves,  and  by  our  consciousness  of  their  educational 
value.  We  cannot  too  carefully  distinguish  the  ancient  classics  them- 
selves and  their  uses,  from  any  system  of  teaching  which  may  now  pre- 
vail. We  object  to  the  present  system  that  in  the  great  majority  of  cases 
neither  the  ancient  languages  nor  hteratures,  certainly  not  the  latter, 
are  really  learned  ;  that  so  little  knowledge  of  the  inner  life  of  the 
ancient  nations,  of  their  philosophies,  their  economics,  of  aught  be- 
yond their  outward  history  is  conveyed ;  that  the  taste  for  know- 
ledge is  too  often  destroyed  by  the  process  of  its  acquisition ;  that 
so  few  after  leaving  school  ever  voluntarily  open  a  Latin  or  Greek 
book ;  that  so  few  have  an  acquaintance  with  any  authors  beyond 
their  class-books  ;  that  even  in  these  most  have  so  much  difficulty 
in  reading  any  passage  not  previously  learned ;  in,  short,  that  their 
study  engrosses  needlessly,  if  not  uselessly,  the  largest  portion  of  the 
whole  school-life  of  thousands ;  excludes,  or  almost  excludes,  other 
subjects  of  equal  or  greater  importance ;  while  it  does  not  produce 
even  within  its  own  sphere  the  results  that  might  be  attained  by  a 
wiser  distribution  of  the  school-course. 

Two  leading  principles  will  probably  not  be  questioned — 1st, 
that  there  are  certain  subjects  which  all,  whether  rich  or  poor,  male 
or  female,  absolutely  ought  to  learn  ;  while  other  subjects,  however 
useful  or  refining,  being  relatively  less  important,  may  not  unreason- 
ably be  postponed  in  favor  of  those  indispensable ; — 2d,  that  there 
are  certain  subjects  which  the  young  mind  is  better  fitted  to  appre- 
ciate and  acquire  than  others  which  may  still  have  great  attractive- 
ness and  fitness  for  a  mind  more  mature.  Now,  we  believe  that  by 
a  happy  provision  of  our  constitution,  the  same  range  of  subjects 


08 

precisely  answers  to  both  those  preliminary  conditions;  that  is, 
that  the  subjects  universally  necessary  are,  in  their  elements,  the 
best  adapted  to  the  young  mind.  Thus  the  knowledge  of  external 
nature,  our  body  itself  being  to  the  mind  external,  is  at  once  the 
most  practically  necessary  for  all  classes  of  society,  and  the  most  at- 
tractive to  the  young.  It  is  at  a  much  Jater  period  that  the  mind 
turns  inward  on  itself,  and  reflects  on  its  own  consciousness.  Nature 
does  not  more  surely  direct  the  child's  lips  to  its  mother's  breast, 
than  she  directs  the  child's  opening  mind  to  observation  and  imita- 
tion of  surrounding  objects,  to  experiment  upon  them,  and  to  the 
tracing  of  relations  between  them  and  its  own  being.  But  these 
same  studies,  for  such  they  really  are,  widening  their  range  with 
the  child's  widening  faculties,  are  also  the  most  necessary,  nay 
the  most  indispensable,  for  the  future  lawyer  as  for  the  future  me- 
chanic, for  the  future  ploughman  as  for  the  future  merchant,  for 
the  youth  and  for  the  adult  of  either  sex.  Were  we  even  wrong, 
however,  in  our  belief  in  this  coincidence,  it  would  still  be  wise  to 
adopt  in  the  choice  of  subjects  taught,  the  order  which  nature  dic- 
tates in  the  development  of  the  child's  faculties.  Now  the  funda- 
mental error  of  the  prevailing  system  lies  in  its  departing  in  this 
respect  from  the  order  of  nature,  and  in  withdrawing  prematurely 
the  attention  of  the  young  from  sensible  realities  to  abstractions, — 
from  objects  animate  or  inanimate,  of  nature  or  of  art,  to  nouns,  pro- 
nouns, and  verbs,  on  the  ground  that,  of  all  the  faculties  of  the  mind 
memory  is  that  which  admits  of  being  earliest  exercised,  and 
trained  to  habits  of  susceptibility  and  retentiveness.  But  it  is  a  great 
mistake  in  psychology  to  suppose  that  there  is  any  abstract  faculty 
of  memory  which  can  be  improved  by  exercise :  memory  is  im- 
proved by  exercise,  not  absolutely,  but  only  in  the  particular  direc- 
tion of  the  exercise.  It  is  wrong  to  regard  this  faculty  as  a  vessel 
which  receives  and  retains  impartially  what  may  happen  to  be 
poured  into  it:  it  is  only  what  has  awakened  a  child's  interest  that 
it  remembers  tenaciously,  and  recollects  quickly ;  and  only  those 
impressions  awaken  a  child's  interest  which  are  adapted  to  the  stage 
and  condition  of  its  mind,  which  gratify  and  excite,  while  they  gra- 
tify its  appetite  for  knowledge.  Now,  can  it  be  doubted  that  it  is 
external  objects  which  most  attract  and  fix  the  attention  of  children, 
and  which  are  consequently  most  naturally,  easily,  and  permanently 
remembered  ?  The  vast  field  which  has  been  partitioned  among 
the  many  departments  of  modern  science,  affords  most  ample  ma- 
terials through  the  longest  school-course  for  developing  as  well  as 
storing  the  youthful  understanding,  and  for  arousing  the  young 
wonder  and  sense  of  beauty; — for  we  hold  with  the  stanchest  ad- 
vociites  of  "  classical "  training,  that  the  mind  must  be  trained  and 


54 

cultivated  as  well  as  stored :  only  we  believe  that  the  subjects  just 
hinted  at  fulfil  both  conditions,  and  that  the  course  of  nature  is  the 
wisest  for  the  one  end  as  well  as  for  the  other. 

Besides,  if  we  wish  to  educate  young  people,  supply  them  with 
means  of  success  in  future  pursuits,  and  make  them  useful  members 
of  society,  we  must  direct  their  attention  to  branches  of  knowledge 
which  are  required  in  the  various  avocations  of  social  life.  These 
avocations  are  now  so  multiplied,  and  present  so  wide  a  field  for 
competition,  that  the  preparatoiy  studies  which  they  demand,  and 
which  are  often  very  extensive,  cannot  be  commenced  too  soon  or 
pursued  too  earnestly.  On  this  subject  an  enlightened  advocate  of  a 
National  education  which  shall  commingle  in  due  proportion  the  sci- 
entific with  the  "  classical "  element,  finely  observes  : — ^ 

"  Science  existing  in  the  present  day,  is  vastly  amplified  in  all  its 
parts  from  that  which  was  taught  in  the  days  of  our  fathers.  Indeed 
it  is  so  enlarged,  so  transformed,  that  those  of  us  who  left  the  college 
walls  for  active  life  some  thirty  years  ago,  find  ourselves  in  quite 
another  world — unable  to  comprehend  its  vocabulary,  still  less  its 
general  outline  and  features. 

"  In  these  same  thirty  years,  in  which  our  young  republic  has 
pushed  out  its  boundaries  till  they  embrace  the  whole  continental 
expanse  from  ocean  to  ocean,  Science  with  equal  ardor  and  equal 
vigor  has  enlarged  its  territories,  till  it  spreads  its  wide  domain 
throughout  the  Earth  and  the  Heavens.  Not  to  speak  of  the  widely 
extended  researches  of  the  analytical  chemist — not  to  advert  to  the 
sublime  discoveries  of  the  geologist,  disentombing  and  bringing 
bodily  out  to  attest  and  record  the  chronology  of  the  great  globe 
itself,  the  millions  of  long  buried  witnesses,  slumbering  in  stony  beds 
and  in  more  than  Egyptian  darkness  during  millions  of  centuries — 
not  to  follow  the  microscope,  descending  deeper  and  ever  deeper 
into  the  minutest  subdivisions  of  created  things,  and  finding  all, 
from  the  depths  of  the  deepest  oceans  to  the  peaks  of  the  loftiest 
mountains,  filled  not  only  with  organized  beings,  instinct  with  pre- 
sent fife,  but  innumerable  multitudes  of  the  microscopic  tenants  of 
our  earth  in  its  most  remote  geological  ages, — have  we  not  seen 
the  telescope,  with  the  vast  augmentation  of  its  power  during  these 
thirty  years,  pushing  far  out  beyond  the  solar  system,  ascending 
into  the  countless  systems  and  series  of  systems  of  the  stellar  worlds 
— unfixing  the  fixed  stars  themselves,  and  tracing  their  wanderings 
through  the  sublimest  fields  of  time  and  space  ?  Nay  more,  is  not 
the  upturned  eye  of  the  awe-struck  astronomer  even  now,  at  this 
very  moment,  with  that  same  telescope  of  these  modern  days,  pene- 

*  S.  B.  RUGGLES.  Address  in  behalf  of  a  National  University,  March,  1852. 


oo 


irating  throuorh  the  tangled  wilderness  of  suns  and  stars,  and  piercing 
deeper  and  deeper  into  the  vast  abysses  of  the  universe,  detect- 
ing infant,  new-born  worlds,  in  the  rery  act  of  coming  into  being  f 
And  yet  all  this  science,  disclosing  truths  thus  auii^ust,  achieving  dis- 
coveries thus  sublime,  comes  down  daily  with  its  homely  and  prac- 
tical application  to  the  ever-varying  wants  and  necessities  of  Man. 
Never  at  any  former  period  in  human  history  have  its  useful  appli- 
cations been  so  constant,  so  valuable  and  so  numerous.  Not  only 
has  it  gladdened  all  earth  and  man  by  its  applied  results,  but  it  has 
extracted  new  powers  from  elemental  nature,  and  delivered  them 
over  to  the  service  of  our  race.  The  ruder,  the  grosser,  the  more  • 
palpable  mechanical  powers  which  had  sufficed  since  the  earhest 
antiquity  for  our  use — even  the  great  and  all-pervading  power  of 
gravitation  itself,  are,  one  and  all,  superseded  by  a  band  of  laborers, 
snatched  from  the  Heavens,  brought  down  and  subjugated,  and 
made  to  toil  as  the  slaves  of  man.  For  was  it  not  reserved  for  our 
day  and  generation  to  witness  the  crowning  achievement  of  science 
— its  brilliant  and  matchless  victory  over  the  imponderable  agents 
of  Nature  1 — agents  so  ethereal,  so  delicate,  so  evanescent, — and  yet 
so  faithful,  so  efficient,  so  untiring  ? 

"  And  when  did  Man  ever  possess  a  better  set  of  servants  ?  Is 
there  any  office  or  any  use,  however  exalted  or  however  humble,  to 
■which  these  heaven-born  agents  are  not  applied  ?  Are  they,  indeed, 
the  companions  only  of  the  learned  philosopher,  the  curious  student? 
Does  not  that  same  vivid,  electric  fluid,  which  carries  on  its  wings 
Thought,  Eloquence  and  Genius,  condescend  to  enter  the  shop  of 
the  plodding  artisan,  and  actually  plate  the  very  tea-pot  on  his  table? 
And  is  not  light,  polarized  light — so  exquisitely  analyzed  as  to  detect 
the  occult  laws  of  the  far  distant  stellar  worlds — placed  by  the  phi- 
losopher in  the  hands  of  the  lowly  sugar-boiler,  that  he  may  send  it 
in  as  one  of  his  daily  workmen  to  watch  Nature  herself  in  her  most 
secret  process  of  crystallization  ?  Do  we  not  discover  at  every  step, 
and  in  every  direction,  increasing  proofs  of  the  hidden  harmonies  of 
the  Sciences  themselves — their  indissoluble  connection  each  with  all, 
and  the  necessity,  the  indispensable  necessity,  of  all  to  the  service  of 
their  master,  Man  ? 

"  The  question,  then,  for  an  intelligent  community  like  ours, 
willing,  at  least,  to  benefit  its  material  condition  is  this — Shall  science, 
so  exalting  and  yet  so  useful — so  sublime,  yet  so  humble,  be  mono- 
polized by  the  learned  few,  or  shall  it  belong  to  all  the  people,  and 
be  distributed  in  the  largest  and  most  liberal  measure  among  all 
alike  ?  We  think  they  can  give  but  one  answer.  We  think  they 
will  claim,  as  they  may  lawfully  claim,  the  same  inherent,  primary, 
fundamental  right  to  knowledge,  which  they  claim  to  liberty  itself; 


56 

and  will  take  due  care  that  nothing  shall  stand  in  the  way  of  their 
acquiring  this,  their  greatest  treasure." 

The  advantages  which  may  arise  in  active  life  from  the  various 
branches  of  knowledge  here  alluded  to,  are  obvious.  Those  which 
may  be  derived  from  Latin  and  Greek  are,  if  we  except  the  mental 
discipline  effected  by  the  study  of  a  foreign  idiom,  very  inconsiderable. 
In  adverting  to  "  classical"  instruction,  Adam  Smith  observes  : — "  It 
seldom  happens  that  a  man,  in  any  part  of  his  life,  derives  any  con- 
veniency  or  advantage  from  some  of  the  most  laborious  and  trouble- 
some parts  of  his  education."  '  And  yet  those  languages  usurp  the 
•  almost  exclusive  right  of  occupying,  for  several  years,  the  rising  gener- 
ation, those  on  whom  the  country  places  her  hopes  of  advancement  in 
the  different  pursuits  which  contribute  to  her  wealth,  prosperity  and 
glory. 

Not  only  do  the  dead  languages  present  but  little  chance  ot 
being  applied  to  any  useful  purposes  in  after-life,  but  the  mental 
training  which  their  acquisition  may  promote,  although  of  a  high 
character,  cannot  supply  all  the  intellectual  wants  of  society.  The 
discipline  which  arises  from  the  comparative  study  of  ancient  lan- 
guages leads  to  particular  attainments,  which,  valuable  as  they  are, 
ought  not  to  be  the  only  objects  of  ambition  in  intellectual  educa- 
tion. A  different  course  of  mental  training  is  required  to  prepare 
the  mind  for  the  scientific,  military,  and  industrial  professions,  from 
that  which  is  calculated  to  produce  great  scholars.  The  habits  of 
the  mind  formed  by  the  study  of  Latin  and  Greek,  have  contributed 
but  little  in  raising  to  eminence  those  who  hold  the  highest  rank 
amongst  legislators,  warriors,  navigators,  engineers,  agriculturists, 
manufacturers,  merchants  or  artists.  It  is  not  these  languages  which 
have  brought  out  the  mental  energy  of  the  great  benefactors  of  man- 
kind, of  those  who,  by  their  inventions  and  discoveries,  have]  in- 
creased, and  daily  increase,  the  power  and  well-being  of  man. 

The  present  tendency  of  society  is  to  special  and  professional  edu- 
cation ;  and  such  education  cannot  be  obtained  through  the  "  clas- 
sics." Our  ancestors  could  not  avoid  confining  their  youth  to  the 
narrow  circle  of  what  were,  in  their  time,  aptly  called,  "  the  learned 
languages;"  because,  as  already  remarked,  they  had  little  else 
to  teach  them,  and  that  little  was  to  be  found  in  those  langua- 
ges. "Butthouojh  wisdom  in  them,  it  does  not  follow  that  it  is 
such  with  us.  With  them  it  was  knowledge,  not  for  ornament,  but 
use.  It  was  the  instrument  of  action,  as  well  as  of  thought.  Law, 
Diplomacy,  Medicine,  Religion,  all  was  Latin  :  a  man  who  was  no 
*  Latiner,'  was  a  mere  villein  in  education  :  he  was  deemed  unfit  in 

*  Wealth  of  Nations 


67 

civil  lite  for  any  situation  destined  for  the  *  ingenuous'  and  free.  But 
to  insist  on  it  at  present,  but,  above  all,  as  the  only  thing  necessary,  and 
to  the  sacrifice  of  many  other  things  really  so,  is  a  folly  of  which  our 
ancestors  could  not  have  been  guilty."  ^ 

It  is  wonderful  how  far  our  thoughts  and  acts  are  influenced  un- 
consciously by  mere  verbal  fallacies.  If  the  woi  I  learning^  means 
obsolete  vocabularies  and  antiquarian  lore,  it  may  indeed  be  applied 
to  ancient  literature;  but  if,  as  we  believe,  it  means  science,  history, 
philosophy,  literature  in  general,  it  seems  hardly  proper  to  apply  the 
terra  to  the  acquisition  of  Greek  and  Latin,  and  to  call  these  lan- 
guages learned^  when  scarcely  any  kind  of  available  information  can 
be  obtained  through  them.  Those  alone  are  truly  the  learned 
languages  which  are  depositories  of  useful  knowledge.  Almost  all 
the  Greek  and  Latin  works  which  contain  information  of  any  value, 
have  been  translated,  and  are  thus  accessible  to  persons  ignorant  of 
those  languages ;  but  from  the  modern  press  there  are  issuing  daily, 
in  various  countries,  works  of  merit  in  every  branch  of  literature,  and 
in  every  department  of  knowledge,  many  of  which  ought  to  be  read 
as  they  appear.  No  physician,  chemist,  or  engineer, — no  scientific 
man,  in  fact,  can  attain  to  eminence,  or  even  keep  pace  with  the 
progress  of  science  or  art,  who  cannot  avail  himself  of  the  discoveries 
and  improvements  made  by  other  nations  on  subjects  relative  to  his 
pursuit.  Living  languages  are  indispensable  to  travellers,  merchants, 
and  statesmen,  to  diplomatic  and  consular  agents,  to  naval  and  mili- 
tary men,  to  the  man  oC  fashion,  as  to  the  man  of  science  ;  whereas 
the  usefulness  of  the  ancient  languages,  viewed  either  as  stores  of 
knowledge,  or  as  means  of  communication,  is  at  the  present  day  very 
limited. 

Utility  is  the  test  by  which  the  value  of  instruction  ought  to  be 
estimated ;  and  the  study  of  words  is  useful  only  so  far  as  it  leads 
to  the  acquisition  of  things.  "  Language,"  says  Milton,  "  is  but  the 
instrument  of  conveying  to  us  things  useful  to  be  known.     And, 

*  Tn.  Wyse.     Education  reform. 

'  There  is  much  obscurity  and  dispute  comprised  in  these  terms  (litera- 
ture and  taste) — many  fallacies  dependent  on  them.  But  the  fj^reat  fallacy 
of  all  is  in  the  term  learning.  Learnin*^ !  a  learned  man !  a  scholar !  these 
are  words  that  blind  us,  and  maintain  in  folly  what  was  laid  in  wisdom. 
Once,  Greek  and  Latin  were  the  only  learning",  words  the  only  sciences. 
The  unhappy  term  remains ;  the  country  of  England  still  considers  syntax 
and  quantity  as  learninr^,  and  the  consequences  are  obvious.  When  non- 
sense verses  shall  have  taken  their  appropriate  place  with  charades  and 
logogryphs ;  when  politics,  laws,  economy,  morals,  mathematics,  mecha- 
nics, cnemistry,  shall  bo  dignified  with  the  term  ''learning,^'  then  will  Bri- 
tain, and  Europe  with  it,  see  that  revolution  in  its  education  and  its  creeds, 
to  produce  which  we  trust  we  are  not  writing  on  dead  leaves,  and  to  the 
winds."— Westm.  Rev.,  Vol.  4.,  "  Present  System  of  Education:' 


58 

though  a  linguist  should  pride  himself  to  have  all  the  tongues  that 
Babel  cleft  the  world  into,  yet  if  he  have  not  studied  the  solid  things 
in  them  as  well  as  the  words  and  lexicons,  he  were  nothing  so  much 
to  be  esteemed  a  learned  man  as  any  yeoman  or  tradesman  compe- 
tently wise  in  his  mother  dialect  only."  ^  Those  languages  should 
be  preferred  which  afford  the  most  abundant  means  of  gaining  know- 
ledge. A  second  language  is  not  of  itself  knowledge;  it  is  only  an 
instrument  for  obtaining  and  conveying  it.  Having  two  words  for 
every  thing, — two  ways  of  expressing  every  idea,  does  not  constitute 
real  information.  He  who  knows  ten  names  for  a  plant  is  less  in- 
formed than  he  who  has  only  one  name  for  it,  but  is  acquainted  with 
ten  properties  of  it.  The  time  which  is  given  to  the  study  of  words 
is  often  taken  from  the  study  of  things :  hence  it  is  not  rare  to  find 
persons  masters  of  several  languages,  who,  notwithstanding,  are  veiy 
ignorant. 

If  schools  and  colleges  were,  as  they  ought  to  be,  an  introduc- 
tion to  the  world ;  if  their  method  of  training  embraced  the  culti- 
vation of  all  the  mental  powers ;  if  their  course  of  study  were  a  pre- 
paration for  the  various  avocations  and  active  duties  of  life  ;  and  if 
the  instruction  received  in  them  were  available  in  manhood,  they 
would  present  some  prospect  of  advantage  to  every  class  of  society. 
Unfortunately  this  is  far  from  being  always  the  case.  The  time 
given  in  many  of  them  to  any  thing  beyond  the  ancient  languages 
and  mathematics,  is,  indeed,  very  inconsiderable.  The  mnemonic 
exercises  on  the  national  grammar,  on  geography  and  history,  and 
the  instruction  on  the  natural  and  experimental  sciences,  which  are 
occasionally  introduced,  may  satisfy  those  who  have  not  reflected 
on  what  constitutes  good  education ;  but  they  do  not  supply  the 
real  wants  of  the  generality  of  learners,  nor  do  they  enable  them  to 
fulfil  the  expectation  of  society  concerning  its  future  members. 
Every  information,  in  fact,  beyond  the  "classics"  is  secondary:  it  is 
attended  to  with  indifference,  and  often  Avith  ill-will;  it  is  studied 
merely  as  a  matter  of  form,  and  to  save  appearances.  This  exclu- 
sive attention  to  ancient  literature,  by  indirectly  contemning  the  na- 
tive and  foreign  living  idioms,  leads  young  people  to  disregard  their 
national  and  other  modern  classics.  It  narrows  their  minds  and 
destroys  their  individuality  by  making  them  the  servile  imitators  of 
the  ancients. 

Under  the  influence  of  these  antiquated  notions,  a  young  man, 
after  the  period  of  scholastic  education,  is  ushered  into  the  world 
with  a  smattering  of  one  or  two  dead  languages,  and  with  but  scanty 
knowledge  of  his  own ;  with  vague  notions  of  bygone  ages  and  utter 

On  Education,  to  Sam.'  Hartlib. 


59 

ignorance  of  passing  events.  He  is  apt  to  entertain  an  exalted 
opinion  of  "  classical  learning,"  and  a  total  disregard  of  modern 
sciences  and  practical  good  sense.^  No  wonder,  then,  that  so  many- 
eminent  men  have  raised  their  voices  against  the  present  scholastic 
course.  Dr.  Arnold  himself,  who  was  so  conversant  with  the  details 
of  instruction  in  "  classical "  schools,  condemns  it  as  altogether  in- 
eflScient :  "  Our  intellectual  eminence  in  modern  times,"  he  says, 
"  by  no  means  keeps  pace  with  our  advances  in  all  the  comforts  and 
eifectiveness  of  society.  And  I  have  no  doubt  that  our  miserable 
system  of  education  has  a  great  deal  to  do  with  it." ' 

Industrial  pursuits  are  the  foundation  of  our  social  and  political 
organization,  the  source  of  the  prosperity  of  the  state,  and  the  means 
of  existence  of  the  great  majority  of  citizens :  the  arts  and  sciences, 
on  which  they  depend,  ought  to  form  an  essential  part  of  our  educa- 
tion. Let,  then,  the  practical  sciences  be  imparted  in  our  schools 
and  colleges  as  they  are  in  active  life.  Although  of  comparatively 
modern  origin,  they  rank  high  in  the  scale  of  knowledge,  whether 
we  consider  their  usefulness,  the  comprehensiveness  of  their  aim,  or 
the  unerring  certainty  of  their  principles.  No  scientific  pui-suit  has 
more  largely  than  natural  philosophy,  and  its  handmaid,  chemistry, 
supplied  the  wants  and  luxuries  of  life,  promoted  the  health  and 
comforts  of  the  human  race,  and  contributed  to  the  improvement  of 
agriculture,  manufactures,  and  the  arts  of  modern  civilization.  The 
sciences  which  reveal  the  laws  and  phenomena  of  nature  possess 
this  inestimable  advantage  in  the  education  of  youth,  that  their  study 
presents  striking  and  endless  manifestations  of  the  infinite  power, 
wisdom,  and  benevolence  of  God. 

The  external  world  of  material  objects  displays  the  power  of  the 
supreme  Architect  who  created  it,  not  less  than  the  internal  world  of 
thought.     Matter  and  intelligence  are  the  inseparable  elements  of 

*  It  is  to  the  great  body  of  men  of  this  description  that  Prof  Faraday 
alludes  in  the  foUowinj^  pass.a^o  from  his  letter  on  Table-turnintr  : — •"  By 
the  great  body — I  mean  such  as  reject  all  consideration  of  the  equality  of 
cause  and  effect — who  refer  the  results  to  electricity  and  magnetism,  yet 
know  nothing  of  the  laws  of  these  forces — or  to  attraction,  yet  show  no 
phenomena  of  pure  attractive  power — or  to  the  rotation  of  the  earth,  as  if 
the  earth  revolved  round  the  leg  of  a  table — or  to  some  unrecognized  phy- 
sical force,  without  inquiring  whether  the  known  forces  are  not  sufficient 
— or  who  even  refer  them  to  diaboHcal  or  supernatural  agency,  rather  than 
.suspend  their  judgment,  or  acknowledge  to  themselves  that  they  are  not 
learned  enough  in  these  matters  to  decide  on  the  nature  of  their  action. 
I  think  the  system  of  education  that  could  leave  the  mental  condition  of 
the  public  body  in  the  state  in  which  this  subject  has  found  it,  must  have 
been  greatly'  deficient  in  some  very  important  principle." — Athenaum,  July 
2,1853. 

'  Life  and  Correspondence,  by  A.  P.  Stanley. 


one  grand  whole.  It  is,  in  fact,  by  the  contemplation  of  the  former 
that  man  can  exercise  and  unfold  his  portion  of  the  latter.  Nothing 
is  better  calculated  to  enrich  the  mind  and  to  elevate  the  soul  than 
the  attentive  consideration  of  those  admirable  principles  of  nature, 
which  diflfuse  every  where  an  indelible  character  of  order  and  beauty, 
proclaiming  unity  of  design,  in  variety  infinite,  and  manifesting  the 
divine  impress  of  the  Creator.  Nothing  is  so  capable  of  exciting 
human  inquiry  to  continual  activity  as  these  sublime  problems  of 
nature,  the  solution  of  which  opens  wider  fields  of  thought  with  every 
new  discovery,  and  exhibits  the  relations  which  exist  between  the 
physical  and  the  moral  world. 

In  truth,  it  is  now  beginning  to  be  perceived  that  the  scientific 
element  should  enter  more  largely  into  our  religious  teaching,  hith- 
erto confined  almost  exclusively  to  "classics."  It  will  be  fortunate 
for  the  Church  not  less  than  for  Science,  if  the  importance  of  their 
more  perfect  union,  so  forcibly  expressed  by  an  eminent  writer  already 
quoted,^  shall  come  to  be  universally  admitted. 

"  In  asserting,"  says  he, "  that  the  Church  produces  few  great  scien- 
tific teachers,  I  only  state  a  fact  deeply  to  be  deplored,  for  it  is  Her 
peculiar  office  to  watch  the  progress  of  human  thought,  to  guide, 
promote  and  consecrate  the  intellectual  labors  of  man.  Five  hundred 
years  ago,  when  the  intellect  of  Christendom  was  abandoning  Scho- 
lasticism for  the  newly  opened  field  of  classical  learning,  the  Church 
forgot  her  duty.  Lagging  behind  the  age,  she  by  turns  opposed  and 
feebly  encouraged,  what  we  now  see  was  the  great  movement  of  the 
time.  She  alienated  its  leaders,  and  allowed  Thought  and  Letters 
to  get  beyond  her  influence,  and  the  Christian  world  still  sufl*ers  from 
the  disastrous  mistake. . 

"  We  are  now  in  the  midst  of  another  intellectual  revolution,  no 
less  momentous.  Man  is  hourly  gaining  mastery  over  Nature,  de- 
veloping her  hidden  laws,  and  subduing  to  his  service  her  hostile 
powers.  Physical  Science,  the  splendid  instrument  of  modern  pro- 
gress, must  become,  if  it  be  not  already,  the  controlling  study  of  the 
arre.  Should  the  Church  be  lono;er  indifferent  to  such  an  element  ? 
Is  she  at  liberty  to  disregard  it  ? 

"  Distrusting  modern  science,  and  avoiding  contact  or  sympathy 
with  its  leaders,  she  has  thus  far  denied  herself  the  power  she  was 
entitled  to  exert  over  the  nineteenth  century.  Bat  recent  indications 
lead  us  to  hope  better  things  for  the  future.  Signs  of  concord  and 
cooperation  begin  to  appear,  and  the  time  has  not  yet  passed,  for 
the  Church  to  bring  into  her  ranks, — where  they  belong, — the  potent 
energies  of  modern  science. 

*S.  B.  RuGGLES.  1854.  The  Duty  oj  Columbia  College  to  the  Community 
considered  by  One  of  its  Trustees. 


61 

"For  distrusting  the  study  of  tJie  Classics,  and  omitting  actively  to 
encourage  the  '  Revival  of  Letters,'  the  Church  at  the  time  had  some 
apology.  Clearly  as  we  now  perceive  the  beauty  and  value  of  An- 
cient Learning,  and  its  fundamental  importance  as  an  element  of 
sound  education,  we  cannot  wonder  that  she  hesitated,  before  admit- 
ting heatlien  philosophy  and  poetry  into  her  religious  teaching. 

"  But  a  reverent  study  of  the  Works  of  the  Creator  can  only 
strengthen  the  position  of  the  Church,  and  furnish  cumulative  evi- 
dence of  the  truths  she  teaches.  The  laws  of  Matter  have  been  con- 
secrated by  her  Divine  Founder  to  the  good  of  the  human  race.  In 
healing  the  sick,  and  multiplying  food  for  the  starving,  He  showed 
the  Church  her  duty  to  care  for  man's  material  wants,  and  use  for 
his  material  welfare  all  the  powers  of  material  nature. 

"  Is  it  not,  then,  matter  of  profound  regret,  that  the  Church  should 
deem  it  unimportant  to  enlarge  to  the  uttermost  our  knowledge  of 
the  wide-spread  wonders  of  God's  Material  Creation  ? — that  it  should 
fail  to  perceive  the  immensity  of  the  truth,  embodied  in  the  Univer- 
sal Liturgy,  which  proclaims  not  only  Heaven  but  Earth  "  full  of 
the  Majesty  of  His  Glory  ?  "  ' 

Blind  respect  for  the  monachal  institutions  of  the  old  English 
universities  has  strangely  perpetuated  the  vices  of  a  system  of  in- 
struction which  contrasts  so  obviously  with  the  progress  that  science, 
art,  and  philosophy  are  making  on  all  sides.  The  instruction  of  youth 
should,  like  the  laws,  change  with  the  character  and  institutions  of 
a  nation  ;  it  should  follow  its  moral  and  intellectual  progress,  and 
should  be  extended  with  the  increasing  demands  of  the  people.  The 
little  progress  which  the  ancients  made  in  the  physical  sciences,  did 
not  permit  them  to  perceive  the  intimate  union  which  exists  between 

'  It  is  well  worthy  of  notice  that,  while  the  churchmen  in  America  are 
thus  contending  for  the  necessity  of  physical  siencc  as  an  element  of  reli- 
gious culture,  like  efforts  are  made  by  their  lay  brethren  in  England.  At 
the  last  annual  "Commemoration"  at  Oxford,  the  Earl  of  Derby,  the 
Chancellor  of  the  University,  in  an  ofticial  address,  strongly  expressed  his 
opinion  infavorofintroducinsjj  the  natural  sciences  into  the  course  of  study. 
He  especially  warned  the  Clergy  that  *'  tliey  would  incur  loss  of  respect 
unless  they  acquired  knowledge  so  interesting  to  the  bulk  of  their  flocks." 
In  alluding  to  the  two  dangers  which  were  apprehended  from  the  intro- 
duction of  the  study  of  the  physical  sciences  into  the  Oxford  curriculu/n, 
first  of  displacing  the  old  studies,  and  second,  that  the  new  would  be  studied 
only  superficially,  he  stated  that  he  had  no  serious  fears  of  either.  He  con- 
cluded with  an  eloquent  vindication  of  the  uses  of  the  study  of  the  works 
of  God  in  the  physical  creation,  introducing  with  great  appropriateness  and 
eft'ect  a  part  of  the  beautiful  morning  hymn  of  praise  which  Milton  puts  in 
the  mouth  of  our  first  parents. 

It  is  quite  evident  thai  Oxford,  so  long  the  stronghold  of  mediaeval  tradi- 
tions, must  yield  ere  long  to  the  higher  civilization  of  modern  times. 


62 

the  sciences  and  the  arts.  In  their  ignorance  of  political  economy, 
they  despised  agriculture  and  manufactures,  unaware  of  their  influ- 
ence on  civilization.  Among  them  the  mechanical  and  industrial 
arts  were  abandoned  to  slaves.  Xenophon  affirms  that  such  occupa- 
tions corrupt  man  ;  Aristotle  denies  to  those  who  are  engaged  in  them 
the  right  of  franchise ;  Plato,  who,  in  his  Republic  gives  the  first 
place  to  musicians,  proposes  to  punish  the  citizens  who  should  carry 
on  commerce.  In  the  Middle  Ages  the  useful  arts  were  the  occu- 
pation of  bondmen  exclusively ;  they  were  neglected  by  the  enlight- 
ened portion  of  the  community,  and  could  therefore  receive  but  little 
improvement.  But  now  that  they  are  carried  on  by  freemen,  and 
are  ennobled  by  the  sciences  and  arts  to  which  they  owe  their  birth 
and  perfection,  their  study  must  necessarily  form  part  of  a  general 
system  of  education. 

We  conclude  our  remarks  with  the  following  extract  from  one 
of  our  public  journals,  in  which  it  is  very  appropriately  headed, — 
"  A  noble  Speech  by  Prince  Albert^  * 

"It  has  been  a  great  pleasure  to  me  to  have  been  able 

to  participate,  in  however  trifling  a  degree,  in  a  work  which  I  do 
not  look  upon  as  a  simple  act  of  worldly  wisdom  on  the  part  of  this 
great  town  and  locality,  but  as  one  of  the  first  public  acknowledg- 
ments of  a  principle  which  is  daily  forcing  its  way  among  us,  and  is 
destined  to  play  a  great  and  important  part  in  the  future  develop- 
ment of  this  nation  and  of  the  world  in  general — I  mean,  the  intro- 
duction of  science  and  art  as  the  conscious  regulators  of  productive 
industry.  The  courage  and  spirit  of  enterprise  with  which  an  im- 
mense amount  of  capital  is  embarked  in  industrial  pursuits,  and  the 
skill  and  indefatigable  perseverance  with  which  these  are  carried  on 
in  this  country,  cannot  but  excite  universal  admiration ;  but  in  all 
our  operations,  whether  agricultural  or  manufacturing,  it  is  not  we 
who  operate,  but  the  laws  of  nature,  which  we  have  set  in  operation. 
It  is,  then,  of  the  highest  importance  that  we  should  know  these 
laws,  in  order  to  know  what  we  are  about,  and  the  reason  why  cer- 
tain things  are,  which  occur  daily  under  our  hands,  and  what  course 
we  are  to  pursue  in  regard  to  them.  Without  such  knowledge  we 
are  condemned  to  one  of  three  states  : — Either  we  merely  go  on  to 
do  things  just  as  our  fathers  did,  and  for  no  better  reason  than  be- 
cause they  did  them  so — or,  trusting  to  some  personal  authority,  we 
adopt  at  random  the  recommendation  of  some  specific,  in  a  specu- 
lative hope  that  it  may  answer — or,  lastly,  and  this  is  the  most 
favorable  case,  we  ourselves  improve  upon  certain  processes ;  but 
this  can  only  be  the  result  of  an  experience  hardly  earned  and  dearly 

*  Delivered  on  occasion  of  laying  the  comer  stone  of  the  Birmingham 
and  Midland  Institute,  Nov.  22d,  1855. 


63 

bought,  and  which,  after  all,  can  only  embrace  a  comparatively- 
short  space  of  time,  and  a  small  number  of  experiments.  From 
none  of  these  causes  can  we  hope  for  much  progress ;  for  the  mind, 
however  ingenious,  has  no  materials  to  work  with,  and  remains  in 
presence  of  phenomena  the  cause  of  which  are  hidden  from  it.  But 
these  Laws  of  Nature — these  Divine  Laws — are  capable  of  being 
discovered  and  understood,  and  of  being  taught  and  made  our  own. 
This  is  the  task  of  science — and  while  science  discovers  and  teaches 
these  laws,  art  teaches  their  application.  No  pursuit  is,  therefore, 
too  insignificant  not  to  be  capable  of  becoming  the  subject  both  of 
a  science  and  an  art.  The  fine  arts,  as  far  as  they  relate  to  paint- 
ing and  sculpture,  which  are  sometimes  confounded  with  art  in  gen- 
eral, rest  on  the  application  of  the  laws  of  form  and  labor,  and  what 
may  be  called  the  science  of  the  beautiful.  They  do  not  rest  on  any 
arbitrary  theory  on  the  modes  of  producing  pleasurable  emotions, 
but  follow  fixed  laws,  more  difficult,  perhaps,  to  seize  than  those 
regulating  the  material  world,  because  belonging  partly  to  the 
sphere  of  the  ideal  and  our  spiritual  essence,  yet  perfectly  appreciable 
and  teachable,  both  abstractedly  and  historically,  from  the  works  of 
different  ages  and  nations.  No  human  pursuits  make  any  material 
progress  until  science  be  brought  to  bear  upon  them.  We  have 
seen,  accordingly,  many  of  them  slumber  for  centuries ;  but  from 
the  moment  that  science  has  touched  them  with  her  magic  wand, 
they  have  sprung  forward  and  taken  strides  which  amaze  and  almost 
awe  the  beholder.  Look  at  the  transformation  which  has  gone  on 
around  us  since  the  laws  of  gravitation,  electricity,  magnetism,  and 
the  expansive  power  of  heat  have  become  known  to  us !  It  has 
altered  our  whole  state  of  existence — one  might  say  the  whole  face 
of  the  globe  !  We  owe  this  to  science,  and  science  alone  ;  and  she 
has  other  treasures  in  store  for  us,  if  we  will  but  call  her  to  our  as- 
sistance. It  is  sometimes  objected  by  the  ignorant  that  science  is 
uncertain  and  changeable;  and  they  point  to  the  many  exploded 
theories  which  have  been  superseded  by  others,  as  a  proof  that  the 
present  knowledge  may  be  also  unsound,  and  after  all  not  worth 
having.  But  they  are  not  aware  that  while  they  think  to  cast  blame 
upon  science,  they  bestow,  in  fact,  the  highest  praise  upon  her.  For 
that  is  precisely  the  difference  between  science  and  prejudice:  that 
the  latter  keeps  stubbornly  to  its  position,  whether  disproved  or  not, 
while  the  former  is  an  unarrestable  movement  toward  the  fountain 
of  truth — caring  little  for  cherished  authorities  or  sentiments,  but 
continually  progressing — feeling  no  false  shame  at  her  shortcomings, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  the  highest  pleasure  when  freed  from  an  error, 
at  having  advanced  another  step  toward  the  attainment  of  Divine 
truth,  a  pleasure  not  even  intelligible  to  the  pride  of  ignorance.  We 


64 

also  hear,  not  unfrequently,  science  and  practice,  scientific  knowledge 
and  common  sense,  contrasted  as  antagonistic.  A  strange  error  1 
For  science  is  eminently  practical,  and  must  be  so,  as  she  sees  and 
knows  what  she  is  doing ;  while  mere  common  practice  is  con- 
demned to  work  in  the  dark,  applying  natural  ingenuity  to  unknown 
powers  to  obtain  a  known  result.  Far  be  it  from  me  to  undervalue 
the  creative  power  of  genius,  or  to  treat  shrewd  common  sense  as 
worthless  without  knowledge.  But  nobody  will  tell  me  that  the 
same  genius  would  not  take  an  incomparably  higher  flight  if  supplied 
with  all  the  means  which  knowledge  can  impart,  or  that  common 
sense  does  not  become,  in  fact,  only  truly  powerful  when  in  posses- 
sion of  the  materials  upon  which  judgment  is  to  be  exercised.  The 
study  of  the  laws  by  which  the  Almighty  governs  the  universe  is 
therefore  our  bounden  duty.  Of  these  laws  our  great  academies 
and  seats  of  education  have,  rather  arbitrarily,  selected  only  two 
spheres  or  groups  (as  I  may  call  them)  as  essential  parts  of  our  na- 
tional education — the  laws  which  regulate  quantities  and  propor- 
tions, which  form  the  subject  of  mathematics,  and  the  laws  regu- 
lating the  expression  of  our  thoughts  through  the  medium  of  lan- 
guage, that  is  to  say,  grammar,  which  finds  its  purest  expression  in 
the  classical  languages.  These  laws  are  important  branches  of  know- 
ledge ;  their  study  trains  and  elevates  the  mind.  But  they  are  not 
the  only  ones,  there  are  others  which  we  cannot  disregard — which 
we  cannot  do  without.  There  are,  for  instance,  the  laws  governing 
the  human  mind  and  its  relation  to  the  Divine  Spirit — the  subject  of 
logic  and  metaphysics.  There  are  those  which  govern  our  bodily 
nature  and  its  connection  with  the  soul — the  subject  of  physiology 
and  psychology.  More  which  govern  human  society  and  the  rela- 
tions between  man  and  man — the  subjects  of  politics,  jurisprudence, 
and  political  economy,  and  many  others.  While  of  the  laws  just 
mentioned,  some  have  been  recognized  as  essentials  of  education  in 
different  institutions,  and  some  will,  by  the  course  of  time,  more 
fully  assert  their  right  to  recognition,  the  laws  regulating  matter  and 
form  are  those  which  will  constitute  the  chief  object  of  your  pursuits  ; 
and  as  the  principle  of  subdivision  of  labor  is  the  one  most  congenial 
to  our  age,  I  would  advise  you  to  keep  to  this  specialty,  and  to  fol- 
low with  undivided  attention  chiefly  the  sciences  of  mechanics,  phy- 
sics, and  chemistry,  and  the  fine  arts  in  painting,  sculpture,  and  ar- 
chitecture. You  will  thus  have  conferred  an  inestimable  boon  upon 
your  country,  and  in  a  short  time  have  the  satisfaction  of  witnessing 
the  beneficial  results  upon  our  national  powers  of  production.  Other 
parts  of  the  country  will,  I  doubt  not,  emulate  your  example,  and  I 
live  in  hopes  that  all  these  institutions  will  some  day  find  a  central 
point  of  unio;j,  and  thus  complete  their  national  organization." 


65 

This  admirable  speech  which  so  well  sums  up  the  views  above 
expressed,  deserves  the  more  our  attention,  as,  from  the  eminent 
character  of  the  speaker,  as  well  as  from  the  occasion  on  which  it 
was  delivered,  it  expresses  the  state  of  public  sentiment  in  a  country 
which  we  have  too  long  copied  in  its  errors,^  not  to  follow  it  now  in 
the  way  of  reform.  This  reform,  indeed,  has  already  commenced 
among  us,  and  is  more  likely  to  be  carried  out  in  those  schools 
and  academies  which  emanate  directly  from  the  people.  Convinced 
that  the  old  Grammar-schools  in  which  Latin  and  Greek  are  exclu- 
sive or  preponderant,  however  useful  as  preparatory  palaestrae  to 
philosophizing  clergymen  and  leisurely  gentlemen  with  large  libraries, 
are  not  the  schools  for  them,  they  have  established  their  own  insti- 
tutions, with  a  view  to  the  greatest  advantage  for  the  student  and 
the  greatest  public  utility.''  In  these  schools  the  sciences  and  mo- 
dem languages  are  seen  to  flourish  side  by  side  with  the  "classics," 
and  in  many  of  them  such  an  amount  and  such  a  variety  of  know- 
ledge are  now  communicated,  with  such  an  admirable  discipline  of 
the  understanding  of  the  powers  whether  of  observing  or  of  reason- 
ing, as  well  as  of  the  taste  for  what  is  beautiful  in  literature  and  art, 
that  the  elder  colleges  must  take  serious  heed  lest  their  sons  be 
sadly  beaten  in  the  educational  and  social  race. 

*  In  mentioning  how  in  the  origin  we  were  obliged  to  content  our- 
selves, in  matters  relating  to  science  and  literature,  with  imitating  the 
mother-country,  Mr.  Siljestrom  remarks : — "  This  imitation  is  also  evinced 
in  the  constitution  of  their  learned  institutions,  particularly  of  their  colleges 
■which  have  been  organized  after  English  models.  As  in  England,  so  in 
America,  these  institutions  are  little  more  than  seminaries  for  teaching 
classical  languages  and  mathematics :  all  other  subjects  are  considered  as 
subordinate  and  treated  with  more  or  less  negligence.  ...  -  Idolatry  of 
the  classical  languages  is  as  common  in  the  new  world  as  in  the  old  ;  only 
it  appears  even  more  preposterous  in  America  in  the  midst  of  the  fresh  life 
of  a  new  community.  .  .  .  ,  I  entertain  the  conviction,  that  as  long  as 
classical  pedantry,  which  still  prevails  in  the  higher  educational  institutions, 
be  not  got  rid  of,  and  a  more  popular  system  of  government  be  introduced, 
these  institutions  will  never  exercise  that  influence  on  the  scientific  culture 
of  the  nation  as  under  other  circumstances  they  might  and  would  exercise. 
I  have  no  doubt,  however,  that  gradually,  as  the  public  school  system  ex- 
tends its  action  to  higher  spheres,  the  system  of  instruction  will  adopt  a 
new  and  more  effective  form." — The  Educational  Institutions  of  the  United 
States. 

'  See  Report  of  N.  Y.  Board  of  Education.  May  3d,  1848.  "  The  Ee- 
port  recommended  the  establishment  of  a  Free  College  or  Academy,  and 
presenting  its  design,  nature  and  objects  in  this  language:  "Your  Com- 
mittee will  not  at  present  enter  into  the  details  of  the  proposed  institution, 
but  will  briefly  remark  that  their  design  is  to  offer  the  idea  of  a  college, 
which,  while  it  shall  be  in  no  way  inferior  to  any  of  our  colleges  in  the 
character,  amount,  or  value  of  the  information  given  to  the  pupils,  the 
course  of  studies  to  bo  pursued  will  have  more  especial  reference  to  the 
active  duties  of  operative  life,  rather  than  to  those  more  particularly  re 
garded  as  necessary  for  the  pulpit,  bar,  or  the  medical  profession." 


66 

Sharing  tlie  conviction  that  the  classes  for  whom  a  few  years* 
schooling  is  the  utmost  they  can  attain,  ought  not  to  be  deluded 
and  mocked  with  the  nidiments  of  "  classical "  instruction,  which 
they  can  never  carry  onward  to  utility  and  enjoyment,  but  are  en- 
titled to  a  solid  groundwork  of  practical,  useful  knowledge, — a 
w^ork  quite  compatible  with  the  development  of  refined  taste  and  ^ 
feehng — we  have  sought  to  show  the  inexpediency  of  introduce  5 
ing  the  ancient  languages  at  an  early  stage  of  instruction.  But,  ^ 
as  much  as  we  are  opposed  to  a  too  eady  or  exclusive  study  of 
"  classical "  literature,  we  should  equally  regret  to  see  our  reasons 
])erverted  into  arguments  against  "classicjfl"  studies  in  general. 
Let  us  well  distinguish  the  use  from  the  abuse.  If  Latin  and 
Greek  be  unprofitable  to  the  great  majority  of  students,  it  does 
not,  therefore,  follow,  as  some  eager  innovators  will  have  it,  that 
Homer  and  Virgil  are  to  be  banished  from  our  public  schools  alto- 
gether, and  steam  engines  and  calculating  machines  substituted  in 
their  place. — Let  it  not  be ! — Let  us  not  snap  cruelly  the  golden 
chain  that  has  so  long  and  so  pleasantly  bound  us  to  the  past ! — 
Let  us  not  unbridge  the  mystic  gulf  of  centuries  profanely ! — 
Let  Virgil  and  Homer  live,  as  good  things,  and  among  the  best,  for 
those  who  have  time  and  capacity  to  "  drink  deep  of  the  Pierian 
spring," — but  let  them  not  be  wasted  in  mere  rudiments  and  disci- 
plinarian externals.  Let  the  study  of  ancient  literature  be  reserved 
for  the  higher  clasess  in  school,  for  those  whose  mind  has  grown 
mature,  and  become  capable  of  comprehending  the  objects  which 
it  contemplates,  and  the  "  classics "  will  again  assume  their  rank 
and  dignity,  now  so  seriously  compromised  by  their  indiscriminate 
application.^ 

The  Greeks  and  the  Romans  amply  made  up  for  their  extreme 
deficiency  in  the  sciences  by  their  taste  in  the  fine  arts,  and  the  ex- 
quisite finish  of  their  literary  productions :  hence  their  languages 
afibrd  advantages  which  cannot  be  denied.  The  noble  specimens 
of  history,  oratory  and  poetry  embodied  in  them,  present  the 
fairest  models  of  composition  ;  the  excellences  with  which  they 
are  replete  eff'ectually  cultivate  and  polish  the  taste  of  students  in 
all  literary  subjects ;  whilst  the  habit  of  explaining  and  analyzing 
thoughts  relative  to  a  state  of  society  so  different  from  the  present, 
inures  to  intellectual  research,  and  calls  into  action  reflection,  ima- 
gination, and  judgment.     The  peculiar  system  which  characterizes 

*  "  Nothing  has  more  contributed  to  disparag-e  the  cause  of  "  classical" 
education  than  the  rendering  it  the  education  of  all.  The  ancient  lan- 
guages are  taught  at  once  too  extensively  and  not  intensively  enough." 
Edinburgh  Revuie. 


6T 

the  grammatical  structure  of  those  languages,  the  distinctive  termi- 
nations of  the  same  species  of  words,  and  the  changes  of  those  ter- 
minations, incident  to  the  various  circumstances  in  which  they  are 
used,  as  well  as  the  indefinite  collocation  arising  from  these  changes, 
aftbrd  to  the  more  advanced  learners  favorable  opportunities  for 
prosecuting  their  study  of  the  native  tongue,  for  acquiring  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  general  grammar,  and  exercising  the  mind 
in  philological  investigations.  Being  also  the  source  from  which 
several  modern  languages  are  derived,  and  from  which  the  techno- 
logy of  science  is  formed,  they  show  the  affiliation  of  those  languages, 
explain  scientific  nomenclatures,  and  open  a  wide  field  for  ety- 
mology. 

But  the  main  advantage  of  "  classical  "  studies  results  from  the 
essential  character  of  ancient  literature  in  thought,  and  emotion,  and 
expression.  As  in  addition  to  the  simplicity  and  tangibility  of  their 
contents,  and  their  less  complex  character  generally,  the  works  of 
the  ancients  stand  unrivalled  as  models  of  purity  in  style  and  truth 
in  art,  their  careful  perusal  will  serve  as  a  most  salutary  check 
against  that  looseness,  ill-regulated  luxuriance  and  extravagance,  by 
which  the  compositions  of  modern  literature  have  too  frequently 
been  characterized.  It  should  also  be  remembered,  in  estimating 
the  influence  which  the  pattern  specimens  of  ancient  literature  exert 
on  the  modern  mind,  that  we  are  placed  in  very  different  situations 
and  surrounded  by  very  different  circumstances,  and  that,  for  this 
reason,  there  is  much  less  danger  of  a  slavish  and  passive  imitation 
of  antiquity,  than  of  a  modern  model.  An  ancient  model  will  be 
admired,  and  exercise  a  beneficial  influence  on  the  taste  of  those 
who  admire  it ;  but  as  it  does  not  excite,  and  is  not  meant  to  excite 
to  any  imitation  of  exactly  the  same  kind,  it  seems  to  stimulate  ex- 
ertion without  inciting  a  discouraging  comparison.  The  classic 
models  of  our  own  literature,  on  the  other  hand,  stand  so  near  to 
us,  and  so  obviously  incite  comparison  with  our  own  performances, 
that  a  servile  imitation,  or  a  despairing  abandonment  of  self-devel- 
opment, is  too  apt  to  be  the  result  of  the  early  admiration  which  is 
fixed  on  them. 

And  let  it  not  be  said  that  the  benefits  expected  from  classical 
literature  could  be  equally  obtained  from  good  translations.  The 
substance  of  the  historical,  oratorical,  or  other  didactic  works  of  the 
ancients  may,  it  is  true,  be  conveyed  in  faithful  translation  ;  but  the 
pith  of  their  expression  can  never  be  conveyed.  In  imaginative 
composition,  especially,  the  very  form  in  which  the  classical  writers 
moulded  their  creations  is  nearly  as  essential  as  the  substance,  and 
that  form  cannot  be  transferred  into  another  language.  No  inter- 
pretation of  the  standard  classics  can  give  an  idea  of  their  energy, 


68 

or  of  their  peculiar  grace.  A  translation  may  be  full  of  beauties  ; 
but  they  will  be  of  a  different  character  from  those  of  the  original. 
By  translation,  the  harmonious  arrangement  of  words,  the  excel- 
lences of  style,  are  lost,  especially  in  poetical  productions,  which  be- 
come sometimes  unintelligible  and  nonsensical.  The  impossibility  of 
transfusing  into  one  language  the  beauties  of  another,  makes  a  trans- 
lation unfit  as  a  model :  original  works  should  always  be  preferred. 
Seldom  have  the  most  celebrated  and  the  most  admired  works  of 
any  nation  obtained,  in  the  translation,  popularity  equal  to  that 
which  they  enjoy  in  the  original.  This  is  particularly  the  case  with 
the  literary  master-pieces  of  antiquity. 

Ancient  languages  must  continue  to  occupy  a  large  share  of  at- 
tention in  the  intellectual  education  of  young  men  destined  for  pur- 
suits which  depend  on  literary  acquirements.  It  is  a  narrow  view  to 
consider  them  as  useful  only  to  the  learned  professions.  If  an  ac- 
quaintance with  them  is  beneficial  to  the  clergyman,  the  physician  ' 
and  the  lawyer,  it  is  not  less  so  to  the  archaeologist,  antiquarian, 
statesman,  philosopher,  and  man  of  letters ;  for  they  are  the  inter- 
preters of  ancient  monuments  and  coins,  the  original  receptacles  of 
our  laws  and  of  ancient  doctrines,  the  inexhaustible  sources  of  our 
modern  dialects,  and  the  bonds  which  mentally  connect  modern  na- 
tions with  one  another  and  with  antiquity. 

"Classical"  Hterature  must  be  studied  in  proportion  to  the  in- 
fluence it  has  had  over  modern  civilization.  This  study  ennobles  the  t- 
mind  by  elevating  it  above  the  trivial  pursuits  of  ordinary  life,  and  \ 
affording  means  of  intellectual  culture.  Let  us  never  forget  that, 
through  the  writings  of  antiquity,  the  ideas  of  freedom  entertained 
by  the  repubhcs  of  Rome,  Athens,  and  Sparta,  have  cast  deep  roots 
among  the  enslaved  nations  of  modern  times ;  and  liberty  has  left 
her  ancient  temples  to  place  herself  at  the  head  of  civilization.  The 
judicious  study  of  the  ancient  languages  will  preserve  these  feelings 
in  the  hearts  of  men,  and  will  associate  liberty  with  education. 
"  Classical  studies  maintain  the  sacred  tradition  of  the  intellectual  and 
moral  life  of  humanity."  ^ 

We  may  therefore  assume  that  for  him  who  wishes  to  reach  the 
highest  point  of  intellectual  cultivation,  an  initiation  into  ancient 
literature  is  absolutely  indispensable.  Only  when  so  initiated  is  he 
in  a  condition  to  survey  comprehensively,  to  contemplate  clearly, 
and  to  see  profoundly  into  what  human  nature  under  its  various 
aspects  can  achieve;  by  the  aid  of  ancient  learning  alone  is  the 
educator  enabled  to  extend  his  view  beyond  the  narrow  horizon  of  the 
NOW  which  encompasses  him,  and  to  distinguish  between  that  which 

*  V.  Cousin.     '*  Rapport  sur  V Instruction  publique  en  Allemagne." 


69 

is  merely  local  or  temporarj',  and  that  which  is  of  universal  and 
human  significancy.  And  it  is  only  this  extent  of  vision  which 
entitles  a  man  to  say  that  he  is  educated  in  the  highest  and  complete 
sense  of  the  word. 

But  here  a  question  of  great  practical  interest  arises.  Can  the 
"  classics "  be  taught  efficiently,  if  delayed  to  a  later  period  of  the 
school  course,  precedence  being  given  to  the  modern  languages  ? 
"VVe  do  not  hesitate  to  reply,  that  the  efficiency  would  be  increased, 
not  diminished,  by  the  delay.  It  is,  doubtless,  a  paradox  to  contend 
that  the  time  may  be  abridged,  and  yet  the  result  not  lessened,  but 
augmented ;  but  every  one  knows  how  much  more  can  be  effected  by 
the  well-directed  energy  of  a  day,  especially  when  the  mind  is 
somewhat  mature,  than  by  the  half-hearted  dawdling  of  a  week, 
especially  in  earher  and  more  careless  life.  If  this  seem  to  any  in- 
consistent with  what  we  have  before  said  about  the  length  of  time  being 
required  for  attaining  perfect  familiarity  with  a  modern  language, 
let  them  remember  what  we  have  also  said,  first  about  the  greater 
fitness  of  modern  languages  for  early  study,  and  secondly,  about  the 
quite  different  manner  and  kind  of  proficiency  which,  in  a  modern 
language,  is  both  to  be  desired  and  to  be  obtained.  Besides,  it  is 
not  the  higher  "  classic  "  teaching  that  ought  to  be  curtailed  ;  it  is 
the  rudimental  drudgery  that  ought  to  be  abridged  and  condensed 
by  better  methods,^  and  above  all,  by  waiting  nature's  time.  It  is 
the  early  age  at  which  "  classical "  studies  are  begun,  that — render- 
ing the  work  at  once  tedious  and  unprofitable — necessitates  so  waste- 
ful an  expenditure  of  time,  and  prevents  their  successful  prosecu- 
tion. Difficulties  which  are  now  surmounted,  if  at  all,  with  infinite 
labor  and  many  tears ;  details  which  are  now  mastered,  if  at  all,  by 
children  who  can  have  so  little  comprehension  of  their  meaning  and 
purpose,  and  so  little  motive  to  mental  effort ;  would  aftbrd  only  an 
easy  and  a  pleasant  exercise  to  minds  more  mature  and  better  pre- 
pared. 

At  all  events,  since  the  physical  sciences  on  one  side,  and  the 
modern  languages  on  the  other,  have  inserted  their  various  wedges 
into  the  "  old  classical  system,"  it  has  become  obvious  that  it  cannot, 
in  its  integrity,  much  longer  be  upheld  ;  and  various  modifications 
have  been  suggested  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  age.  Generally,  two 
divisions — one  embracing  the  ancient,  the  other  the  modern  lan- 
guages— have  been  instituted  from  the  first  stage,  and  maintained 
throughout ;  one  school  being  thus,  in  fact,  made  into  two,  coincid- 
ing in  all  other  points.     It  is  not  necessary  that  we  should  dwell  on 

*  "  We  do  amiss  to  spend  seven  or  eight  years  in  scraping  together  so 
much  miserable  Latin  and  Greek  as  may  be  learned  otherwise  easily  and 
delightfully  in  one  year."— Milton,  On  Education^  to  Sara.  Hartlib. 


70 

the  defects  of  this  plan,  wliicli  is,  indeed,  a  virtual  abandonment  of 
the  whole  "  classical "  ground  in  the  case  of  all  but  those  who  have 
some  special  reason  for  "  classical "  study.     It  leaves  the  "  classical " 
student  where  he  was  ;  it  cuts  off  tbe  other  from  the  "  classics  "  alto- 
gether ;  it  deprives  both  of  the  advantage  of  a  joint  training,  and  is 
apt  to  create  invidious  distinctions.     Still  it  was  the  first  step  made. 
An  improvement  on  this  has  been  the  introduction  of  a  modern  lan- 
guage, during  the  last  year  of  the  school-course,  with  all  who  have 
followed  the   "  classical "  routine ;   and   that  this  previous  training 
gives  them  peculiar  facilities  in  the  acquisition  of  the  former — espe- 
cially if  it  be  one  of  the  more  immediate  descendants  of  the  Latin — 
cannot  be  denied,  though  a  few  months,  even  under  those  circum- 
stances, can  hardly  do  more  than  laying  a  good  foundation.     But, 
as  this  is  done  to  the  detriment  of  the  "  classics  "  themselves,  which 
are  thus  neglected  at  the  very  time  they  ouglit  to  engage  more  par- 
ticularly the  student's  attention,  it  inflicts  the  serious  loss  of  much 
of  his  early  training,  the  seed  having  been  sown,  though  the  liarvest 
is  never  to  be  reaped.     If  "  classics  "  were  delayed  entirely  to  the 
more  advanced  school-stage,  the  pupils  would  be  taught  together, 
in  their  earlier  years,  all  those  subjects  which  are  of  common  im- 
portance to  all,  whatever  be  their  distination  in  life  :  the  structure 
and  literature  of  their  own  language,  its  sources  and  history,  with 
coBimual  2^rcictice  in  English  composition  ;  two  or  three  modern  lan- 
guages, with  abundant  exercise  in  writing,  speaking  and  hearing^  as 
well  as  reading  ;  the  various  branches  of  mathematics,;  the  elements 
of  physical  science — in  short,  all  the  subjects  which  are  now  taught 
in  any — or  which  ought  to  be  taught  in   every  respectable  school. 
Every  pupil  would  thus,  even  in  the  earlier  portion  of  the  school- 
course,  receive  a  valuable  mental  training,  and  make  substantial  ac- 
quisitions, which  he  could  turn  to  account  alike  in  the  further  pro- 
secution of  his  studies  in  any  direction,  or  in  the  business  of  the 
world,  should  necessity  unfortunately  require  his  premature  removal 
from  school.     In  their  knowledge  of  modern  tongues,  especially,  all 
would  have  acquired  an  instrument  of  ever  fresh  attainment,  from 
literature  current  as  well  as  past,  and  from  associations  with  hving 
men.     The  interesting  and  truly  valuable,  but  less  useful  and  im- 
portant study  of  the  ancient  languages  and  literatures,  would  be  re- 
served for  those  who  should  have  the  blessed  privilege  of  a  prolon- 
gation  of  their  school-course.      The   great  complaint  now  raised 
against  the  "  classics"  is,  that  they  are  taught  too  early  and  to  in- 
discriminately.     By  the  same  simple  means  both  objections  are 
removed.     The  postponement  of  "classical "  studies  would  virtually 
settle  the  question — who  ought  to  learn  "  classics  ?  "  The  answer  is : 
those  who  can  remain  at  school  during  the  later  years  of  the  coui-se. 


71 

If  fewer  persons  were  taught  the  elements  of  "  classics,"  more  would  S 
learn  their  use ;  if  fewer  learned  the  letter,  more  would  imbibe  the  ; 
spirit.  In  this  way,  those  who  should  still  learn  "  classics,"  would 
have  the  immense  advantage  of  not  having  sacrificed  for  their  sake 
things  much  more  important,  while  those  who  should  not,  might 
well  congratulate  themselves  on  having  acquired  much  valuable 
knowledge,  and  excellent  mental  training  to  boot,  in  exchange  for  a 
pittance  of  Latin  and  Greek,  soon  forgotten,  and,  to  them,  almost  use- 
less while  remembered.  Nor  is  this  plan  the  less  worthy  of  consid- 
eration, because  it  would  powerfully  tend  to  renew  the  prestige  of 
"  classical  "  learning,  at  the  same  time  that  it  would  systematize  the 
current  opinion  of  a  great  class  of  intelligent  citizens,  who,  with 
Dr.  Latham,  feel  "  the  necessity  for  a  limitation."  ^ 

*  Lectures  on  Education,  delivered  before  the  Royal  Society,  March,  1855. 


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